Ange Postecoglou: Even Mohamed Salah would struggle at Tottenham | OneFootball

Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has backed under-fire forward Son Heung-min to rediscover his best form soon, insisting even Mohamed Salah would struggle in the team's current injury crisis.

Son recently saw his one-year contract extension triggered during a season which, by his lofty standards, has so far fallen short of expectation. The winger has five goals and six assists in 17 games, with Spurs struggling down in 12th in the Premier League standings. Salah, meanwhile, sits top of the division for both goals and assists.

Postecoglou urged critics of Son to take a step back and accept the team's wider struggles. They have been stung by a selection crisis this season which could leave them without as many as 11 first-team players for Wednesday's Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Liverpool.

"People need to have a little bit of context," Postecoglou began. "Mo is a world-class player but if you put him in our team now I'm not sure he’ll have that same level of performance because of the situation we're in as a group.

Two forwards enduring vastly different fortunes / Harry Murphy - Danehouse/GettyImages

"You need a team that's in good form, creating opportunities, playing on the front foot, having a really solid foundation of a defence that is ­cohesive. None of these things exist at the moment [at Spurs]. We're ­relying on individual moments.

"Mo is an unbelievable player but he's playing in a fantastic team that are flying. I'd hazard to say that if you put Sonny in Liverpool's team, I reckon his goalscoring return would be decent.

"We are a team that is very disrupted, that is not playing with a fluency that it can play with. We're asking players to play in positions that they are totally unfamiliar with. But when we're at our best, I still think you'll see Sonny's return - in terms of his ability to score goals and be really effective for us. He's going through a tough trot but we're going through a tough trot. That goes hand in hand."