- Son Heung-min received medical attention before being removed on Thursday.
- Ange Postecoglou told fans what he could three days before facing Man United
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Ange Postecoglou has provided an update on Son Heung-min’s fitness after he was forced off in Tottenham’s 3-0 Europa League dismantling of Qarabag.
The Spurs captain replaced Timo Werner with 20 minutes remaining after receiving medical attention, moments after his shot was deflected into the path of Dominic Solanke for the team’s third goal.
Tottenham face Manchester United on Sunday and with Richarlison and Wilson Odobert already out, Postecoglou does not need another body on the treatment table.
Spurs were good against Qarabag, with Brennan Johnson and Pape Matar Sarr also scoring, but tensions are rising after a lackluster start to the league.
About Son, Postecoglou said: ‘I haven’t spoken to him.
Son Heung-min received medical treatment and was forced off as Spurs beat Qarabag 3-0
Ange Postecoglou said he “felt a little tired” but had not spoken to Son or the doctors.
Spurs won 3-0 against the visiting Azeris after the match started 38 minutes late.
“He said he felt a little tired, but I haven’t spoken to him or the doctors yet.”
Tottenham were reduced to 10 men after seven minutes when Radu Dragusin received a straight red card in his first European start.
Dragusin passed on a simple pass from one of his teammates near the halfway line, allowing Qarabag striker Juninho to steal possession and have a clear run toward goal.
Unable to catch the Brazilian, Dragusin decided to throw him to the ground, prompting an immediate red card from the referee. It was, as fans wrote on X, a “diabolical defense.”
The stalemate in London meant the match started 38 minutes late as the Azeri visitors were caught in traffic.
Rail and road closures for various reasons combined to cause chaos between the visiting team and thousands of fans who had to find alternative routes in relentless rain to reach the N17.
The TNT Sports team, including experts Peter Crouch and Glenn Hoddle, were also trapped and had to abandon their vehicle and set out on foot in the rain.
‘Imagine being stuck in traffic for over two and a half hours. I can’t just make excuses for this; “It shouldn’t have happened and there was no police to escort us,” said Qarabag chief Gurban Gurbanov.
TNT Sports pundit and former Tottenham striker Peter Crouch revealed how the travel chaos affected his trip to the stadium.
Brennan Johnson scored for the third straight game to open the scoring for the hosts.
Pape Matar Sarr doubles Spurs’ lead as they make a solid start to the Europa League
“It had a big impact on our players, but it doesn’t take anything away from our opponent. They are a good team and we don’t turn a blind eye to that.
‘As soon as we arrived we were told to start in 40 minutes and we weren’t as prepared as we should have been. These things shouldn’t happen.”
Once the match began, the home fans were treated to plenty of entertainment, although the hosts only had 10 shots to Qarabag’s 14.
Johnson opened the scoring in the 12th minute, his third goal in as many games, while Sarr doubled the lead shortly after the break.
Qarabag had a golden chance to halve the lead in the 58th minute, but Tural Bayramov avoided a penalty and Solanke punished them 10 minutes later when he took advantage of a poor save by Mateusz Kochalski to score.
“It just wasn’t a great start for us,” Postecoglou said. “We were very passive with our passing. Whether it’s the game’s delay or whatever, but it’s no excuse.
“So having a 35-minute delay, it delays warm-ups, it delays all kinds of things, but you have to deal with it and we have to deal with it better than we did tonight.”
“We shot ourselves in the foot and unfortunately Radu (Dragusin) paid the biggest price for it. But as a team, we just didn’t start the game the way we wanted and needed to, and that made the game challenging for us. .
“The response was excellent, absolutely, but we were disappointed that we had to be in that position.”
