Ange Postecoglou has stood by his decision to take Son Heung-min off before the hour mark against Aston Villa. The South Korean forward has missed the last three games with a thigh issue, but returned to the XI for the home Premier League clash this afternoon.
And with his side trailing 1-0 at the break due to Morgan Rogers’ goal, the club captain showed fans exactly what they had been missing early in the second half.
Son delivered a sublime ball in from the left, picking out Brennan Johnson who levelled matters from close range.
But to the shock of both the crowd and the player himself, with the game finely poised at 1-1, Postecoglou opted to take his key man off. Richarlison duly replaced him, with the manager later vindicated as Dominic Solanke scored twice before James Maddison’s free kick completed a 4-1 win.
But that was after Son was seen shaking his head in frustration after taking his seat on the bench. He also appeared to utter several choice words while he showed his emotions.
However, the Australian boss later insisted it was a precautionary measure, and one he had already decided to make pre-kick-off.
“He was never going to play more than 55 minutes,” he told Sky Sports. “Last time he came back from injury he got to the 60 minute mark and got injured again. He got through unscathed.”
However, despite Son coming through unscathed, Postecoglou was left to reflect on another two injury blows. Cristian Romero was forced to leave the field moments after his skipper, and then Son’s replacement Richarlison found himself coming back off.
The Brazilian played a pivotal role in Solanke’s second goal, squaring a pass for the striker to tap home. But in doing so, he appeared to pull his left hamstring and duly limped off.
Postecoglou admitted it was too early to know the extent of the damage to either player, but implied he wouldn’t be panicking. “Richy felt something in the action of setting the goal up,” he added. “Romero’s was in that challenge he felt his foot was sore.”
Despite the talk of injuries, Postecoglou could at least reflect on another big win for his side, having also knocked Manchester City out of the Carabao Cup in midweek. “After the performance in midweek I thought it was an outstanding effort,” he added.
“We stick to our principles, there is great belief in these players, and when we do that we are hard to stop. I felt the momentum was going our way, we knew we would finish strong and if we upped it a couple of gears like we can we knew we would be hard to stop.”
