Alasdair Gold has explained why Dominic Solanke’s illness came as a shock to Ange Postecoglou just before the Tottenham vs Fulham game.
Heading into Sunday’s game, Tottenham were already without Guglielmo Vicario, Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Richarlison, Wilson Odobert, Mikey Moore and Rodrigo Bentancur.
To make matters worse, Solanke came down with an illness on the day of the game, forcing Postecoglou to play Heung-min Son upfront.
The move did not work, with the South Korean delivering a lacklustre performance and failing to pounce on the opportunities that fell to him.
Football.London’s Alasdair Gold had revealed that Postecoglou and his coaching staff were shocked at the state Solanke was in when he arrived at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The striker had reportedly trained without any issues in the days before but things had changed overnight, with the Englishman struggling but trying to put on a brave face.
The 26-year-old was deemed to be in no state to play and further, Spurs could not risk having an illness sweep through the camp, which was why they decided to send the former Bournemouth man home.
Solanke’s work rate off the ball and his incessant pressing help Tottenham win the ball in the final third several times each game. When Sonny did win the ball back from the press against Fulham, he missed two key chances to take the lead.
Son also struggled to hold the ball up and bring others into play with his back to goal, something Solanke has done superbly this season.
Tottenham failed to do that too often on Sunday, with the Englishman’s and Dejan Kulusevski‘s absence from the starting eleven meaning that Fulham were able to play out from the back with relative comfort.
The post Ange Postecoglou was left ‘shocked’ by one Tottenham player on Sunday appeared first on Spurs Web.
