Ange Postecoglou issues fresh Son Heung-min injury update after Man Utd vs Tottenham decision
Ange Postecoglou has revealed that Son Heung-min "just wasn't right for today" after he was left out of the Tottenham squad for Sunday's game at Manchester United. Spurs were left sweating over the fitness of their captain going into the match at Old Trafford after he was replaced in the closing stages of the Europa League tie against Qarabag.
Postecoglou did make a handful of changes for the game against the team from Azerbaijan but Son remained in his starting XI. He would not play the full 90 minutes, however, after coming off in the 71st minute due to a hamstring issue.
The Australian admitted in his pre-match press conference that Son had "felt fatigue in his hamstring" during the match and the club had to determine whether that was actually an injury or just fatigue. With Son's fitness up in the air prior to the trip to Manchester, Son in the end did not travel north with his teammates as injury kept him on the sidelines.
Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of the match about Son's fitness, Postecoglou said: "Short turnaround obviously from Thursday night and he just wasn't right for today so we're going there without him."
On how big a blow it is for Tottenham, also due to his leadership qualities, the 59-year-old added: "Yeah but we've had to sort of suffer those things a fair bit during my time here with key players missing out. We just have to learn to cope without him."
READ MORE: Man Utd vs Tottenham LIVE - Kick-off time, TV channel, confirmed team news and goal updates
READ MORE: Son Heung-min absent from Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham squad for Man Utd game
Son's absence does give Timo Werner a chance in the team as the German was preferred in attack to Mikey Moore and Dejan Kulusevski.
"Timo it's his position, it's where he's the most comfortable and that's why we brought him to the club for situations likes this and he gets an opportunity today," said Postecoglou.
Always one of the first names on the teamsheet for Tottenham, Son has already had a busy start to the 2024/25 campaign for both club and country. He has already played 549 club minutes and another 180 minutes across two South Korea matches this season.
Son's level of playing time is just not sustainable and Postecoglou knows it himself.
"No," admitted the Australian during his time with the media at Hotspur Way on Friday. "I would have wanted to ease his workload this early part of the season, but we lost Richy and we lost Dominic [Solanke], then we lost Wilson [Odobert]. Sometimes, it’s not the amount of injuries, but the kind of injuries you get.
"So he’s played more than I think than I certainly want him to and the idea of signing Dom and bringing in Wilson and extending Timo [Werner’s] loan was that we could manage his load because he's got international football as well.
"It's something that I'm mindful of but it's just the circumstances so far, and Sonny always wants to play, that’s his attitude, but we’ve got to be sensible about it. I don’t think it’s got so much to do with his age because I haven’t seen that affect him. It’s more I just don’t think that kind of workload in the modern game is sustainable.
"We’ve spoken a lot about fixture overload and part of that responsibility lies with us to try to protect our players and certainly with Sonny we’re going to have to be mindful of that."
Listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham! Click here for in depth Spurs chat on your preferred podcast platform.
Want breaking and top Tottenham stories sent straight to you? Join our Spurs WhatsApp community by clicking this link. If you're curious you can check out our privacy policy here.