Richarlison has said that he was frustrated with his own performance against Manchester United rather than Ange Postecoglou’s decision to take him off.
Richarlison endured another frustrating outing on Saturday afternoon as he was feeding on scraps for much of the game.
While the Brazilian did work hard and try to hold up the ball, he got no joy in the final third and was eventually replaced by Ivan Perisic on 70 minutes, with Son Heung-min moving to the number nine role.
Richarlison was frustrated at his own performance
The 26-year-old cut an extremely displeased figure on the bench and he has now explained that his anger had nothing to do with Postecoglou’s decision to substitute him.
The forward told ESPN Brasil: “It was more with myself because I didn’t get any ball there to shoot. As a striker, I have to receive the ball, I have to be close to the goal. Today I didn’t receive any ball there, so I was more upset about that, it wasn’t for the substitution or anything.”
Richarlison also admitted that he is starting to develop a good understanding with new signing, James Maddison in training.
When asked about the playmaker’s arrival, he said: “Little by little, we’re getting along, Maddison is a great player, and little by little I’m gaining rapport with him.
“During training, we’ve been making a good partnership. Little by little, I think the goals will come, I need to be calm. The important thing is that we won the three points.”
The former Everton man conceded that filling Harry Kane’s shoes will not be easy and called on Spurs fans to have a little more patience, insisting that things will start clicking for him in front of goal.
He added: “We’ve been training, during training I’ve been doing well, scoring goals, I think it’s a matter of time for the goals to come out, there’s the chemistry. I think the fans have to be a little patient, it’s not easy to replace an idol like Harry Kane, that time is normal.
“Like it or not, a match in which I don’t score a goal, they’re going to miss him, he’s a guy who scored more than 200 goals for the club. It’s taking that as an example and trying to score as many goals as possible in a Tottenham shirt.”
“For sure, that’s why Tottenham paid dearly for me. That’s why they put me here, now it’s up to me, I have to do the job, I know my responsibility. The coach hit my chest, I know he trusts me, too.”
Spurs Web Opinion
I do not think we can be too critical of Richarlison’s performance as we hardly created any chances for the forward. However, the longer it takes for the 26-year-old to get off the mark this season, the more the pressure will build on him as the inevitable comparisons with Kane will continue.