Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte of the English professional football Premier League defended Son Heung-min, who has recently been sluggish, as "a person, not a robot."
At a press conference held two days before the 2022-2023 EPL round 21 with Manchester City on the 17th (local time), Conte answered a question about Son Heung-min, saying, "A player is also a person."
Son Heung-min, who was the league's top scorer last season (23 goals), but this season has only four goals in 17 games.
In the match against Crystal Palace in the 19th round, he broke silence after 9 games and tasted the goal, but in the 20th round against Arsenal, he only had one effective shot and received the lowest rating of 4 to 5 points from local media.
"Son Heung-min is not scoring as well as last season this season," Conte said. "It's not good news for us. We can count Son Heung-min's goals."
"We're talking about people, not robots," he said.
Tottenham, who finished 4th last season and qualified for the UEFA Champions League (UCL), is in 5th place (33 points) as of the 17th in the second half of the season.
Especially since the 2022 Qatar World Cup break, it is not good with 1 win, 1 draw and 2 losses in 4 league games.
“All I can say is that I am training really hard every day,” Conte said.
At the same time, he also expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that the manager was the only one who had to explain to the media about the situation surrounding the team.
"I've never seen a medical staff come here to talk to a player when they're having a hard time rehabilitating," Conte said.
"I've never seen a team captain or club come out and explain their vision or strategy," said the Italian-born.
(Photo = Tottenham club Twitter capture, Yonhap News)