Ange Postecoglou explained that Tottenham Hotspur’s hectic schedule was the reason Son Heung-min was on the bench against Newcastle United.
The 32-year-old rarely completes the full 90 minutes for Spurs and is often substituted towards the end of games, but has balanced Premier League duty with successes in the Carabao Cup and Europa League, as well as flying to the other side of the world, to represent South Korea.
Nonetheless, it was something of a surprise to see Son miss out against in-form Newcastle, who overcame the early setback of conceding a goal against Dominic Solanke to emerge 2-1 winners – Anthony Gordon in controversial circumstances and Alexander Isak the Magpies’ goalscorers.
Spurs have now lost half of their 20 Premier League games this season and sit 12th in the table. Their position is all the more extraordinary as their record at this point in the season is almost identical to last season – 42 goals scored and one more conceded, but they are 15 points worse off.
Explaining Son’s omission, as well as the absence of James Maddison and Yves Bissouma, Postecoglou said: “I thought we would need some running power and energy at the start and as the game progressed we would be able to use the experience of the boys who came on , and I thought it worked well.
“We did really well. We started the game really well and the only thing that stopped us was not football. Playing a lot of football and having them fresh helps them both mentally and physically and I thought all three made a real difference for us did when they came on.”
The Greek-Australian player was delighted with the referees’ decision to award Newcastle’s lead – despite replays showing the ball clearly hit Joelinton’s hand beforehand – but declined to openly criticize referee Andy Madley, instead pointing out that Tottenham would have fared better on a “level playing field”.
“No, because I know what everyone wants from me, but I’m just saying that on any other day, on a fair and even playing field, we would have won this game,” Postecoglou remarked when asked for his opinion.
“It’s that simple. Don’t keep asking me about the decision. If you don’t have an opinion, that’s okay. I know what my opinion is and, as I said, if it was a different day and it was a balanced day. “Under fair conditions we would have won the game.
After further probing, he continued: “I know you just want me to say something, but I won’t. I’m just not interested in this discussion: on any given day we would have the game on fair and even terms and.” logical considerations.
“You can make of it whatever you want. I don’t know what else to say about that.”