From Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – Antonio Conte has suggested leaving Son Heung-min out of Tottenham’s starting line-up for the good of the team, but was delighted to see the South Korean star in Saturday’s 6-2 win over Leicester. Came off the bench to make the trick.
Son had not scored a goal this season before the Foxes were struck and was replaced in the Spurs XI by Dejan Klosewski.
Tottenham went into the half-time break level at 2-2, and while they regained the lead shortly after the break through Rodrigo Bentancur, it wasn’t until the hour mark that the hosts really got going. Clicked into gear.
The 30-year-old scored a quick-fire hat-trick to put Leicester to the sword, and speaking after the match, Conte discussed the thought process of leaving Son.
“People don’t understand for a coach, it’s not easy to handle this kind of situation,” Conte began.
“Sometimes you prefer to play with 13 players, but in some moments, I have to make important decisions. First of all I have to try to be honest in the decision because if you are honest, you will not lose respect. Your players.
“I think every decision I’m going to make in my career is for the best of the team. The players know very well that I want to win and every decision is for the best of the team, the best player.”
Speaking to BBC Sport, Conte added: “We played a lot of games in a row, every three days. He played every game. We started with Richarlison on the bench for a lot of games. Then Klosowski was on the bench. Then today the son.
“I was a player, every player wants to play every game but you lose physical energy and mental energy. Sometimes you don’t realize it and you think you can play but the performance drops.
“This season especially the top players we’ve had. [Lucas] Maura and [Bryan] Gull rotation is good for team and player well-being. If you give energy and you play like the son played, everyone will be happy.