Spurs star says his pain was so bad that he couldn’t shoot during warm-ups
Richarlison has revealed that his groin injury was giving him so much discomfort that he could not kick the ball without pain, and he admitted that he found it hard to deal with the criticism that was coming his way.
Richarlison started on Sunday for the first time since he had surgery on his groin, and Ange Postecoglou took a risk by starting him at number nine.
The move turned out to be a brilliant one as the forward scored two goals, surpassing his total Premier League goal total from the previous campaign.
After Tottenham defeated Newcastle 4-1, the 26-year-old spoke to ESPN Brasil and acknowledged that he had been dealing with a groin problem since the previous season. He also said that he might not have postponed his operation for as long as he did.
Richarlison couldn’t even take part in shooting drills
The Spurs player has now admitted that the issue was so serious that he skipped shooting exercises during his pregame warm-up.
The former Everton player disclosed that he had to take a vacation from social media because of the hostility he was receiving.
“I’m very happy to be back playing,” Richarlison said to The Daily Mail. I healed rather fast, and this has given me even more drive. I had been experiencing these aches and pains since last year, and I felt particularly when it was time to end.
“So much so that I didn’t even practice kicking in the warm-up before the games, because it always got worse and I couldn’t do the simplest movements afterwards without feeling discomfort.
“I delayed this surgery for several months because I wanted to support the national team as well as the club. However, after realizing that I wasn’t in a good enough physical condition to continue, I was actually doing more harm than good to the teams.”
“I need to eat. Though I had to learn this lesson the hard way, I still want to play. There’s no sense if your physical and emotional well-being are out of current.
Many people were critical of me and said nasty things about me since I was not playing at my best. Things also took a terrible turn because of my lack of confidence and unsatisfactory off-field affairs, which further damaged my mental state.
“So much so that I took a break from social media and I’ve been saying very little, because I want to recover and I am focused on that.”
The forward remarked that he is now feeling a lot more confident in his body and is hoping to help the team over the coming weeks.
“Thank God, I feel so much better and don’t have that pain anymore,” he continued. I’m thrilled with the goals I scored as well as my increased ability to support the squad.
“Things that hadn’t been happening make me very confident,” the player said. “I had the energy to recover, I stole the ball from the first goal in midfield and arrived in one piece to finish later.”
“Now, in order for things to go back to their proper places, we need to consider how each game evolves and having a good sequence.”
Richy seems to have erred greatly in delaying the procedure for so long. It surprises me that the Tottenham medical department did not press for an earlier resolution to the issue.
