Antonio Conte, the head coach of Tottenham Hotspur, has insisted that Heung-min Son is not ‘undroppable’, as the Premier League Golden Boot winner from last season continues his woeful start to the season.
Son had the best season of his career for Spurs last season, scoring 24 goals and providing 10 assists. But he has struggled to replicate his form this season and is yet to register a goal.
And after another below-par performance in the Champions League against Sporting Lisbon this week, questions were raised as to why Conte continues to start with the out-of-form Son instead of the likes of Kulusevski and Richarlison who have been relatively much better recently.
When asked whether Son was undroppable, Conte said (via Football London):
“No players are undroppable. This has to be clear.
“If I say this it’s only to help my players and to avoid injuries, to try to have players in a good performance. You know you can play one game well, another so-so and another not. My job is to protect my players and find the right way to get a good result.
“If you don’t start with some players then you have the possibility to use them in the game. If we want to play these four competitions, in the conference league it can give you the possibility to make rotations in the group stage and if you drop a bit of the quality you can maybe still win. In the Champions League, it is different.”
No player should feel that they are untouchables. Perhaps this is an indication from Conte that he is not afraid to bench Son and maybe it is exactly what the player needs as well.
Conte will be hoping for an instant reaction from his players when they play a struggling Leicester City next.
Talk is cheap…. If he doesn’t drop Son then we know he has no bottle to drop the big names.
The World Cup must be playing a part in this mercurial start to the season . Dont think any side is showing consistency and it occurs that maybe players , unconsciously or otherwise , are not giving 100% ?
Most of the top sides will have many members of the squad looking for a place in that glorious event , hard to calculate who it might affect most , but I get the feeling that it wont be after Christmas before we find the real form of all Prem teams and possibly beyond that .
I really think we need to be in a challenging position by the end of the year because there will be one or two players suffering a hangover – and exhaustion in the heat – so they may play a reduced role after the new year celebrations !!!!!!!
It will be interesting to see whether Conte does drop Son against Leicester. I think he should because Son has been abysmal in most of the 8 games in which he has started this season. I don’t think he will though any more than he will give Spence a run out in place of Emerson or replace PEH with Bissouma. If things continue to go bad for Son and Conte persists with selecting him then Conte’s own judgement will be further questioned. After all what is the point in having a squad if you fail to use it? What is the point in selecting a goal scorer who doesn’t score goals?
I’m not so sure, I think how Harry fares in the World Cup will impact his next move. If he wins the Golden Boot or gets to the Final or wins it I could see him staying.
If he doesn’t shine at the World Cup and the domestic season brings no real success he could be unsettled.
Most quality young players speak good English so I don’t think Kane has to worry about being understood if he was to go to Bayern or anywhere else.The fact is the world is his oyster,so he has no problems moving elsewhere.Our current situation unfortunately tends to suggest that him and Conte will be gone in the summer.
Haha of course you muppet.
Drop Kane and he will be picking up a copy of “German For Dummies” quicker than you can say “I love Juve”