Mauricio Pochettino has admitted Son Heung-Min's elimination from the Asian Cup was a relief after the South Korean helped Tottenham to overcome Watford.
Son and his South Korea teammates were eliminated by Qatar in Friday's quarterfinal, and the 26-year-old went straight into the line-up against Watford on Tuesday night. Pochettino has revealed that he planned to substitute Son during the match after his exertions on international duty -- but the forward was needed until the end, and he scored an 80th-minute equaliser as Spurs came from behind to beat Watford 2-1.
"Of course he was disappointed to lose the quarterfinal against Qatar -- he wanted to deliver his best for his country and win the Asian Cup," said Pochettino. "But in the same time I need to be honest -- I'm happy he's back because he's helping us to try and win, and that is so important.
"For me, it was too much [effort for him]. It wasn't the plan to play with him for the full 90 minutes but how the result was, you know in that moment I talked with Jesus [Perez] and I said, 'Maybe we need to take a little bit of a risk to keep him playing.'
"He finished very tired, with some cramp. We're going to see if he can recover for the next game. If he's ok maybe he's going to be in the starting XI -- if not, on the bench. For sure if we need him, he's going to help the team. That's one circumstance more [that we need to deal with].
"It was an amazing effort, a great goal. He showed energy and I'm so happy with his performance, but more happy because he showed massive commitment with the team."
Fernando Llorente was involved in Son's strike and then completed the turnaround against Watford by heading in an 87th-minute winner, scoring for the second time in three matches. He appeared to run towards Pochettino to celebrate but his manager said: "I don't think he wanted to come to me! I moved into his run, I put myself in the way to try to celebrate with him.
"Normally I never celebrate goals but today I felt a bit of freedom to celebrate because we deserved to win.
"I'm so happy because Fernando has been working so hard in the last four games with Harry Kane out. He's working so hard for the team, and to help the team to win three points today is a massive thing. Always it builds the confidence in a striker.
"When you are competing with Harry Kane, or behind Harry Kane -- one of the best strikers in the world -- always it's difficult. Always you need time. But in all this time he's been a fantastic professional and always was pushing and helping the team."
Tottenham were in danger of losing a third successive match after their cup exits against Chelsea and Crystal Palace, so Pochettino was relieved to come out on top.
"It was important for us, after a difficult week, to smile again," he said. "With all the circumstances, I think finishing in that way after 90 minutes is a fantastic way to end that negativity that was around in the last few days.
"How it changes things when you get a victory like today, you are for sure more optimistic and people see things differently to yesterday."
There are now less than 24 hours to go before the January transfer window closes, and Georges-Kevin Nkoudou is likely to leave for Monaco on loan as talks continue about a move.
Asked about the situation, Pochettino said: "I don't know anything. I'm going to talk now with my chief scout Steve Hitchen. I'm going to ask for some news.
"I expect that maybe some player is going to leave but I do not expect that we are going to add to the squad. I'm going to talk because I want some news, but not because I am expecting to sign a player."