Ange Postecoglou said it was always the plan to sub Son Heung-min off early against Aston Villa despite the Tottenham captain raging at the decision.
Spurs went into half-time 1-0 down to Villa thanks to Morgan Rogers’ opener but equalised almost immediately after the break with Son teeing up Brennan Johnson.
But soon after, just 55 minutes in, Postecoglou hauled off his captain with Richarlison taking 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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