Why Tottenham dropped captain Son Heung-min for Newcastle clash | OneFootball

Ange Postecoglou explained that Tottenham Hotspur's hectic fixture schedule was the reason for Son Heung-min's benching against Newcastle United.

The 32-year-old rarely completes the full 90 minutes for Spurs, often being taken off towards the end of games, but has balanced Premier League duty with Carabao Cup and Europa League exploits, as well as jetting off to the other side of the world to represent South Korea.

Nevertheless, it was somewhat of a surprise to see Son left out against in-form Newcastle, who overcame the early setback of conceding to Dominic Solanke to emerge 2-1 winners - Anthony Gordon, in controversial circumstances, and Alexander Isak the goalscorers for the Magpies.

Spurs have now lost half of the 20 Premier League games they have played this season and sit 12th in the table. Their position is all the more extraordinary because their record at this stage of the campaign is almost identical to last season - 42 goals scored with one more goal conceded, yet they are 15 points worse off.

Explaining Son's omission, as well as the absence of James Maddison and Yves Bissouma, Postecoglou said: "Just a combination of I thought we were going to need some running power and energy early on and as the game went on we would be able to use the experience of the guys who came on and I thought it worked well.

"We finished really strong. We started the game really well and the only thing that stopped us in our tracks was not football. That was the whole idea about it. Guys like Sonny, Biss and Maddison to a lesser extent, they have played a lot of football and having them fresh helps them mentally as much as physically and I thought all three when they came on made a real difference for us."

Postecoglou was less than pleased after seeing his side come away with nothing / Alex Pantling/GettyImages

The Greek-Australian was incandescent at the officials decision to award Newcastle's opening goal - despite replays showing the ball clearly striking Joelinton's hand in the build-up - but refused to openly criticise referee Andy Madley, instead pointing to the fact Tottenham would have fared better on an "even playing field".

"No, because I know what everyone wants me to say, but all I'll say is that on any other day, on a fair and even playing ground, we would have won that game," Postecoglou remarked when asked for his opinion.

"Simple as that. Don't keep asking me about the decision. If you guys have no opinion about it that's fine. I know what my opinion is and, as I said, if that was a different day and it was an even and fair playing ground we would have won that game.

After further probing, he continued: "I know you just want me to say something but I'm not going to. I think it's clear. Now whether people agree with me or not whether it wasn't handball or it was accidental, I'm just not interested in any of that discussion. What I'm saying is, on any given day with a fair and even playing field and logical thought processes we would have won that game, that’s it.

"You can make what you want of that. I don't know what else to say about it."