Ange Postecoglou confesses that his plans for Heung-min Son have had to change so far this season due to the injuries his squad have been dealt.
Son doubtful for Man Utd game
It is unclear if son will be fit to take the field for the Manchester United game, with Tottenham still waiting on their captain’s fitness after he came off with a knock against Qarabag.
The forward has already amassed a lot of minutes so far this season, having played 549 minutes for his club plus another 180 minutes for South Korea (Football.London).
That is a concern for Postecoglou, who will want to keep his star man fit and sharp as Tottenham enter a busy period of the season.
Ange confesses change of plans
Postecoglou has now admitted that he planned on handing Son fewer minutes in the first month and a half of the season, but his plans have had to change due to the injuries to Richarlison, Dominic Solanke and now Wilson Odobert.
When asked if it is sustainable for Son to continue playing this much, the Spurs boss bluntly told Football.London: “No. I would have wanted to ease his workload this early part of the season, but we lost Richy and we lost Dominic [Solanke], then we lost Wilson [Odobert]. Sometimes, it’s not the amount of injuries, but the kind of injuries you get.
“So he’s played more than I think than I certainly want him to and the idea of signing Dom and bringing in Wilson and extending Timo [Werner’s] loan was that we could manage his load because he’s got international football as well.
“It’s something that I’m mindful of but it’s just the circumstances so far, and Sonny always wants to play, that’s his attitude, but we’ve got to be sensible about it. I don’t think it’s got so much to do with his age because I haven’t seen that affect him.
“It’s more I just don’t think that kind of workload in the modern game is sustainable. We’ve spoken a lot about fixture overload and part of that responsibility lies with us to try to protect our players and certainly with Sonny we’re going to have to be mindful of that.”
When asked if he will speak to his captain about his workload before making selection decisions, Postecoglou responded: “No. I tend not to make decisions by consensus. I think when you’ve got a player like Sonny, I’ve had experience of working with guys like that before and they’re always going to want to play.
“Do I want to dull that competitiveness by having a reasoned discussion with him over a cup of tea and saying ‘Sonny, this is going to be great for you, great for me?’
“No, I’d rather I leave him out and he’s disappointed with me because I think that’s what you want in him, and sometimes it’s doing something for someone’s own good and that’s my decision, my responsibility and I’ve got to take that on board.”
No interference in international involvement
Postecoglou also made it clear that neither he nor the club would request Son to withdraw from international friendlies, insisting that he will always allow his players to make those decisions.
When asked if he will be asking the forward to lessen the international demands, given the travel time involved, the 59-year-old said: “Oh no chance, because I understand how important it is for him.
“We can look in the cold harsh light that his club football will benefit if he doesn’t play for his country but one day he won’t be able to play for his country and the one thing I wouldn’t want is for him to have regrets that he missed the opportunity to play as much as he could.
“All these decisions are better left to the player because they know how they feel about their career. It doesn’t matter how long you play, the lifespan of a professional footballer is still fairly short compared to how long you live your life so the time you have you want to be as fulfilled as you possibly can.
“You want to create as much of a basket of memories as you can because one day you won’t have that opportunity. I would never be the one to say, ‘Look for selfish reasons, for us as a club it would be great if you didn’t play for your country’. I just wouldn’t do it.”
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