Antonio Conte said: “This is the good problem, when you are in a team that are trying to be competitive. We have just started our path to be competitive. We added one strong piece in our squad compared to last season because Richarlison is an important piece. You add this piece with Sonny, Harry and Deki, they did really well. For sure to drop Deki for three games in a row, honestly, for me, it was difficult. I don’t like to give explanations to my players because otherwise in every game I have to speak to one, to another one and another one. I think the most important thing is to have respect about the role. But at the same time, I spoke with Deki because after three times in a row that you go on the bench, I think that he deserved to feel that my trust, my confidence, was like always. But it was only a tactical decision because I wanted a strong impact with the three strikers, Richy, Sonny and Harry. [Deki] is not a striker, he’s a number 10. Only for this reason. I’m pleased because I understood very well that we can play with Harry, Sonny and Richy. At the same time, Deki is an important player for me, for the team. He’s in an important moment now because he’s strong physically and is good. For sure the first problem is for him because when I go home and I start to think [about dropping him three times], it’s a good problem, but at the same time it’s a difficult problem. It’s not easy to make a decision, but, and this is a clear message, in every decision I’m going to make, it’s always for the best of the team, for the welfare of the players, to keep the players in the best possible way, not to risk injury. At the same time, I don’t want to drop the quality of the team because in the end, we have to try to win.”
One of the players who has continued to start under Conte despite his struggles in front of goal is Son. The South Korean star won the Golden Boot last season with Mohamed Salah but has so far failed to score in this campaign, providing just one assist in the opening game against Southampton. The 30-year-old is a popular character within Tottenham and normally always has a grin on his face, but it was put to Conte that Son’s smile has been missing at times in recent games.
Antonio Conte said: “Honestly, if I have to pay attention to one smile or not during the game, it means that… I think Sonny, for sure, he is not happy because he’s not scoring but he knows very well that in every game … maybe the last game he didn’t have a chance to score but in the last games he had a lot of chances to score. You know very well that he is a striker and in the last season he was the top scorer in the league. It’s normal and I like that he’s a bit angry for this situation because it means that he wants to try to change it. Also because we need [him]. We are talking about Sonny and he’s a really important player for us. At the same time, it can happen, especially when you play massive games, you can be a bit tired mentally, also. Your body, it can happen, but I repeat: Sonny for me would be never, never a problem. I hope to have my problems like him! We are talking about one of the best two players that we have in our team. For sure it can happen that in some games he can’t play from the start, like Harry also, but only to protect him, to give the possibility to rest, to take care of his energy and to bring us to win. We are talking about players that during the game, they are decisive and we need to have these players always to be at the top.”
When it was suggested that he sounded like he was hinting at resting Son for the match against Leicester City on Saturday,
Antonio Conte said: “Saturday we need energy. We need energy. We finished the game against Sporting with not a lot of energy and for this reason I am a bit upset, because despite the big effort we did in the game, at the end we lost the game. We lost a lot of energy and then we lost [the game]. Now I have another day to make the best decision. For sure I will make rotation on Saturday. We will see. I repeat. I try to make the best decision in every moment for the team, not for myself. I am not selfish. I have to think to everybody. I was a player. I know. I know that the player thinks of himself. I did this in the past. Now I am the opposite side. I have to think for everybody to try to make the best decision, but always in an honest way. Always. If I make mistake … only in an honest way.”
