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.