FROM TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM – Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou admitted he decided to move Son Heung-min from his centre forward role back to the wing for Sunday’s win against Newcastle United because that’s where most of Spurs’ chances have come from recently.
Tottenham put an end to a run of five matches without victory by demolishing top-four rivals Newcastle, beating the Magpies 4-1 on home soil.
Crucial to the win were the performances of Son and Richarlison. The Tottenham captain rounded off his side’s scoring with a penalty late in the day after the Brazil forward had grabbed a brace.
Postecoglou started Son on the left wing despite succeeding in a new number nine role so far this season, with Richarlison restored through the middle amid his struggles in front of goal for Spurs prior to this weekend The Greek-Australian was quizzed on this tactical decision in his post-match press conference.
“Richy’s healthy now and I think that’s his best position, through the middle. With Sonny, looking at the last few weeks, most of our chances and opportunities have fallen to the wide players. He’s still our best finisher and I thought getting him back on the left would give us some more avenues to score goals. Sonny set the tone early on and I think the rest of the lads fed off him,” Postecoglou said.
Richarlison only recently returned to full fitness after undergoing groin surgery before the November international break, and he told international media in the aftermath of Sunday’s win that this was crucial to returning to peak physical condition.
Postecoglou seemed to agree with this sentiment, adding: “Richy was important to us at the start of the year too, but he wasn’t fully fit.
“I think you could tell he was kind of restricted with his movements. At times we had to play him out wide just to get him through games. Since he’s come back, it’s fair to say he feels a lot better physically and I think that’s helped him mentally as well. Great for him to get two goals today, but it wasn’t just his goals, it was his general work rate, energy and physicality.”
READ THE LATEST TOTTENHAM NEWS, TRANSFER RUMOURS & GOSSIP
