Player Watch Player Watch: Son Heung-min

Though in fairness the few Koreans I've briefly talked to about Son don't seem to rate him that much.

I like it that everytime he scores, I can say "go on my son" and for that reason alone, I want him to stay and do well.

GO ON MY SON

Everlasting Seconds said:

Let's at lest stick to objective facts when we can.
He was injured for the month of October. That's it. Otherwise he made appearances in every month of the season, indicating that his problem wasn't injuries at all.


And he also shows far more blatant mistakes and shortcomings.

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I agree to a certain extent but it was the timing of the injury rather than how long he was out that made it difficult for him to recover from. He started well for us and was given plenty of playing time as a result. The injury definitely disrupted his season badly and he struggled to get back into the team (at least in terms of starts) as a result so instead of him growing in confidence, bedding himself into the first team and continuing his promising form he had a stop-start season with no rhythm and appeared to lose confidence/form as a result.

Whether he gets the chance to have a good run in the first team is anyones guess but I'd like to see it happen.

I think he's a pretty average player with a poor first touch but he does have pace, works fairly hard and has a good shot with either foot. I think he's more in the form of Demosey/Siggurdson in the sense that his level is probably a very good player for a lower top half team but his shortcomings become more apparent at a higher level.

Happy to be proven wrong though and I would never condone selling him after just one season as I did with outright plodders like Paulinho or Chiriches.

Son was top notch for us at start of last season and I was really worried when he got injured such was the impact he made on the team.

Unfortunately he wasn't able to get back into his groove after coming back from injury but some of you people are so fickle wanting him go already ffs...

He uses both feet, is able to press and also a clinical goal scorer but yeah let's get rid of him before letting him settle eh...

First of all, you cannot compare Lamela to Son when it comes to their first seasons. Lamela was several years younger, had very little game time in a chaotic season under AVB/Sherwood, and had issues coping with a move to a new country where he didn't speak the language at all. Son has had 5+ seasons in top flight European football, he had a largely settled squad with a great manager and support system when he came from Leverkusen, and he got more match time to show his worth than Lamela did in his first season. Furthermore, Lamela is simply a much more gifted player than Son. Lamela is frankly a more gifted player than anyone in our squad, so constant comparisons of players to Lamela who don't have a good first season is a bit of a stretch in my opinion, as he's a very unique footballer (for the record, I was one of the loudest Lamela advocates on this site when people were writing him off last season, so I'm not one who just says "get rid" whenever a player performs under par).

Secondly, the concerns with Son for me are that he hasn't necessarily altered his game to cope with the physicality and style of the Premier League. His greatest strength is his ball striking ability. Yet how many times have we seen him try to tee up a shot and then get closed down and have his shot blocked. It's a big problem because he doesn't get much time on the ball in this league and tends to lose out overdribbling into a crowd. He has never been a creative type like Lamela or Eriksen who created countless chances for others, so if he's not getting you goals, he can become a bit of a liability. The other concerns, which I noted in a long post before we signed him, was that he was being run into the ground minutes wise by both Leverkusen and South Korea in 2014/2015, which I think we saw the effects of last season.

Lastly, beyond being a bit concerned about how the Olympic failure and looming military service impact him mentally, I think for him to succeed at Spurs, he'll need to regularly start games. He's been a starter playing regular minutes for most of his career, so asking a player like him to find his rhythm in 15-20 minute substitution appearances is a big ask. I think we saw last season that outside of the Watford game, he had little impact as a substitute. His best games (Palace, Leicester, Monaco, West Ham) were all where he started.

Look, I'm not advocating we sell him or anything like that. I'd like to actually keep him and Chadli, both. Son's talented enough to be a contributor for us and the ability to shoot with both feet is a pretty special skill that not many in our squad have. But he needs an arm around the shoulder from Poch and needs to adapt his game if he's going to succeed at Spurs.

Just wanted to say that a lot of you are overestimating how badly koreans want to avoid the military as they are not frightened to go or anything like that. It is just an annoyance that interrupts your life but sometimes is seen as a chance to escape or take a break from life and think about your future.

No one wants to be forced to go so if possible, gaining exemption is preferred, but going is also not a big deal and in fact many young guys come out of it with some very positive experiences and friends.

Also son was upset in that video because he felt he was responsible for korea's poor result and that he missed lots of chances. It's not the first time he's cried for korea, it's just cuz he cares for his country and his team. Not at all about being a wuss lol..

Carry on

Thought we would have learned our lesson maybe even a little bit after Lamela. Fuck me for expecting some patience from our fans.

He sees a pass and tracks back more but Chadli can head the ball. Neither of them press well.
Lamela is on a similar level until the last game when he started getting into the box for goals; long may this continue.

At the moment Eriksen's the best AM but aside from him I think all our AMs are fairly similar in overall contribution.

KenTHFC said:

The thing is Son has actually done things of merit so I believe he deserves time. I'm quite shocked at how many want him gone so soon

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some fans are just fickle

ultimateloner said:

He sees a pass and tracks back more but Chadli can head the ball. Neither of them press well.
Lamela is on a similar level until the last game when he started getting into the box for goals; long may this continue.

At the moment Eriksen's the best AM but aside from him I think all our AMs are fairly similar in overall contribution.

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Funny how some see it. I see it as Lamela, Eriksen and Alli all being of a similar level in terms of contribution, whilst Son offers less and Chadli less again.

People on this site never learn do they when it comes to writing off players prematurely.

Not every player becomes better with time and patience.
Townsend? What gained he form patience? A low key move to Newcastle?
Carroll? Early criticism of him was ridiculed, but is now widely accepted as mainstream view.
People who criticised Bentaleb was reminded about ManUtd and Paul Pogba ffs, and now
the club can't wait to get Benaleb out the door.
Nobody is putting their 5 pound bottle of wine from tesco in the cellar just because some wine matures well and develops with time.
It's the same with footballers. Not every player will be better next year or the year thereafter.

Everlasting Seconds said:

Not every player becomes better with time and patience.
Townsend? What gained he form patience? A low key move to Newcastle?
Carroll? Early criticism of him was ridiculed, but is now widely accepted as mainstream view.
People who criticised Bentaleb was reminded about ManUtd and Paul Pogba ffs, and now
the club can't wait to get Benaleb out the door.
Nobody is putting their 5 pound bottle of wine from tesco in the cellar just because some wine matures well and develops with time.
It's the same with footballers. Not every player will be better next year or the year thereafter.

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Son has been successful prior to his time here with us; at Hamburg and then at Bayer Leverkusen. None of those other players had histories of success. They all were relative unknown commodities as they made their way into the first team.

Your point really holds no substance in the way in which you attempted to prove it. Yes, some big money moves don't turn out. But deeming it as a total flop after an injury-riddled season is just idiotic.

Everlasting Seconds said:

Not every player becomes better with time and patience.
Townsend? What gained he form patience? A low key move to Newcastle?
Carroll? Early criticism of him was ridiculed, but is now widely accepted as mainstream view.
People who criticised Bentaleb was reminded about ManUtd and Paul Pogba ffs, and now
the club can't wait to get Benaleb out the door.
Nobody is putting their 5 pound bottle of wine from tesco in the cellar just because some wine matures well and develops with time.
It's the same with footballers. Not every player will be better next year or the year thereafter.

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Alright mystic meg, just give it a chance yeah, no point waving your Willy around claiming that you're right based purely on some silly prediction and guess work.

Shadydan said:

Alright mystic meg, just give it a chance yeah, no point waving your Willy around claiming that you're right based purely on some silly prediction and guess work.

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It would be a pretty pointless forum if everyone did that. People speculate on all aspects of the club, players included. If some have a hard time with just don't read it.

I personally will be glad to have him back. He can play across the front four (with varying degrees of effectiveness), is faster than all of them, is a good finisher and has a bit of flair. He has some flaws to iron out and we need him to be far more consistent, but he's only going to improve with age and game time.

Last season was his first season in the PL, he just needs time to adjust, there was no guarantee he was going to take his first season by storm, no player is guaranteed to do that.

It's been said before by many people but just look at Lamela now, he was given time after a below par and injury hit first season and is now one of our most important players. Patience people.

Everlasting Seconds said:

Not every player becomes better with time and patience.
Townsend? What gained he form patience? A low key move to Newcastle?
Carroll? Early criticism of him was ridiculed, but is now widely accepted as mainstream view.
People who criticised Bentaleb was reminded about ManUtd and Paul Pogba ffs, and now
the club can't wait to get Benaleb out the door.
Nobody is putting their 5 pound bottle of wine from tesco in the cellar just because some wine matures well and develops with time.
It's the same with footballers. Not every player will be better next year or the year thereafter.

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All those players were given a lot longer than one season to be a success at our club though so I really don't understand the comparison.

Son might not develop any further with us, but ffs, I think a player that moved from another country, had a spell out injured which disrupted his season, but still managed to score 8 goals and put in some decent performances deserves at least another year before he is written off.

I guess that is too much to ask for some on here though.

False post