JUST IN – Ange Postecoglou hints on possible formation change and frontline position switch as Son Heung-min will be off to Asian cup.
Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has claimed that he could change Richarlison’s position after Son Heung-min leaves for the Asian Cup.
Spurs are very short of options right now due to injuries, and things will only get worse next month when Yves Bissouma, Pape Matar Sarr and more importantly, Son, leave to represent their countries. Richarlison will have to step up then.
Ange Postecoglou says he could change Richarlison’s position next month
Tottenham started the season under Ange Postecoglou with Richarlison up front and Son Heung-min playing on the left flank.
Then, after a few games, the two attackers interchanged positions, and Son started firing for Spurs while playing down the middle. Postecoglou even labelled him as the club’s best finisher.
Everyone expected the South Korean to stay in a central position, but following Richarlison’s return from injury this month, Postecoglou has deployed him as a striker again, with Son moving to the left.
The Asian Cup is all set to begin in January and Son will be away to represent his country. Postecoglou will have a decision to make with his selection, and he has now dropped a hint.
The Spurs boss has suggested that he could change Richarlison’s position once again and move him to the left to take on Son’s role next month.
Postecoglou said, as per Football London: “We played him (Richarlison) out wide, on the left, because he was struggling with certain things at the start of the year in terms of his body and it just made sense for us to play him in those wide areas and we had Sonny who could play in the middle and he was going well at the time.
“Now, it suits us to have Richy through the middle and Sonny out on the left, but with Sonny going, there is always the opportunity to play Richy out there as well.
“I mean, that’s where he played the majority of his Everton Premier League career and scored a lot of goals out there. So there’s always that possibility as well.
“Again I like players who are multi-functional in that way and if you look at our front players – whether that’s Sonny, Kulusevski, Johnson, Richy – they’ve all played just about every position there and at the moment us having Richy at nine is working well for us and we’ll continue with that but there’s always a possibility that it could change.”
Richarlison should continue as a striker
Interchanging Richarlison and Son Heung-min’s positions is an easy decision to make because they are both top-quality players, especially the latter.
However, when Son goes away on international duty, Ange Postecoglou should continue using Richarlison up front as they don’t really have anyone else.
Young Alejo Veliz is still not ready to lead the line for Tottenham, while Dane Scarlett, who is back after being recalled from his loan, is below the Argentinian in the pecking order.
Richarlison will be Tottenham’s best striker when Son is away, so he must retain his position there – unless Spurs go out and sign a new number nine early in January.
