Ange Postecoglou explains Son Heung-min substitution following Tottenham captain’s furious reaction

Despite Son Heung-min’s outrage at the decision, Ange Postecoglou stated that it was always the intention to substitute him off early against Aston Villa.

Spurs trailed 1-0 against Villa at halftime following Morgan Rogers’ first goal, but Son quickly tied the score by setting up Brennan Johnson.

However, Postecoglou hauled off his captain after just fifty-five minutes, and Richarlison took his place.

Son was visibly baffled when his number was shown and after briefly embracing his manager, vented his frustration on the subs bench for all to see.

Though the South Korea forward had just returned from an injury, it seemed a strange call to sub him off so soon after producing an assist.

Yet it paid off, as Tottenham went on to win 4-1 with Richarlison setting up Dominic Solanke for the third goal, though the Brazilian then had to be subbed himself because of injury.

Explaining the decision, Postecoglou said he always planned to bring off Son when he did, telling BBC Sport: ‘He was never going to play more than 55 minutes.

‘Last time he came back from injury he got to the 60-minute mark and got injured again. He got through unscathed.

The great thing was he made a pretty big contribution before that, a great ball in for our equaliser. Again, we’ve got more battles ahead and we’re going to need him.’

Asked about the 32-year-old’s reaction, the manager added: ‘No, no, I didn’t see any difference in Sonny [in the dressing room].

‘I’d be surprised if any player likes coming off when they feel alright but no I didn’t need to discuss it with him. What’s more important for us is the overall picture.’

The result moves Tottenham up to seventh in the table, just two points shy of Villa and Arsenal with a far superior goal difference.

‘I thought we had to match them in the first half. We conceded a goal but we made them work really hard in the first half,’ Postecoglou added.

‘The thing with us is we have another two or three gears in us. Credit to the players, after a massive effort on Wednesday night physically, to do that.’

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