Conte delivers verdit on Son Heung-Min’s stuttering form as pressure mounts on Spurs boss


Antonio Conte has explained why he thinks Son Heung-Min has struggled to find his form for Tottenham in the Premier League this season.

The South Korean winger was one of the most prolific players in the league last season. Scoring 23 goals, he won the Golden Boot alongside Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah.

Goals have been much tougher to come by for Son this season though, who has only scored four league goals so far. He’s now only scored one goal in his last 10 league matches.

In the north London derby, Son only managed to register one shot on target and was ultimately nullified by the Arsenal backline.

Conte has offered an explanation on his form in his latest press conference. The manager explained (via Football London): “For sure if we talk about Sonny, last season he scored 25 goals. This season he’s not scoring so much.

“For us it’s not good news because we count on his goals. Then we are talking about not robots, about a person a human. I’m the first to hope that Sonny starts to score with the pressure or without the pressure.

“This is football. We have to try to face the situation with the players. The most important thing I see during the training session and games is that Sonny tries his best.”

Other than Harry Kane, Spurs have struggled to find a consistent flow of goals from any of their forwards. Richarlison is yet to score in the league and Dejan Kulusevski hasn’t scored since the opening day.

With Spurs now losing ground on the sides above them they cannot afford to be as wasteful in front of goal as they have been lately.

When asked on the fans criticism of him, Conte explained: “What I can say is only one thing. We are working really hard every day for this club.

“If there is criticism then we have to accept. It’s difficult to understand the criticism because we are doing everything we can in this situation.”

Tottenham fans were left displeased following their performance against Arsenal. Conte’s side have been guilty of starting matches slowly all season and it took them until the second half to get going at the weekend.

When asked about his approach, Conte added: “It depends also on the opponent. First half we started to press high. Sometimes you find opponent that is good and we work against the pressure.

“When you press high you leave space behind your back. If you have players like Saka, Martinelli and others, then you have to consider the characteristics of your defenders. You don’t want to risk being too open.”

Next up for Spurs is a midweek clash against Manchester City where they will be hoping to return to winning ways and mount a challenge for the top four.

READ NEXT: Big Midweek: Man City v Spurs, Wout Weghorst, Liverpool, Jesse Marsch





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