Antonio Conte has stated that he won’t hesitate to remove Son Heung-min from his Tottenham starting lineup if the forward’s performance doesn’t improve.
Son, who scored 22 goals in the Premier League last season and won the Golden Boot, has yet to score this year and hasn’t appeared to be the same player who terrorised defences earlier in the year.
Conte said he might be tempted to remove Son from the team if form and fatigue demand it when Spurs play Leicester on Saturday in the late kickoff.
He said: “I think Sonny, for sure, is not happy because he’s not scoring. He is a striker and in the last season he was the top scorer in the league.
“It’s normal and I like that he’s a bit angry about this situation because it means he wants to try to change it.
“It can happen, especially when you play massive games, you can be a bit tired. Mentally, also. For sure it can happen that in some games he can’t play from the start, like Harry also.
“But only to protect him, to give the possibility to rest, to take care of his energy and to bring us to win.
“On Saturday we need energy. We finished the game against Sporting with not a lot of energy and for this reason I am a bit upset.
“We lost a lot of energy and then we lost. Now I have another day to make the best decision. For sure I will make rotation on Saturday.
“When you score a lot of goals, the following season is more difficult because you are not an underdog. But when you don’t score, for sure the confidence goes a bit down.
“But at the same time, I think a strong player copes with this situation, faces it head on and overcomes this situation.”
Son was substituted against Sporting CP after another poor performance, while strike partner Harry Kane was also off form.
