Player Watch Player Watch: Son Heung-min

[SlotBadger]

Son and Davies wearing earpieces and in disguise at the club shop:

 

[Nick-TopSpursMan]

I went and looked at all of his goals and assists this season. He has 12 goals and 6 assists in the PL this season from 21 starts (1 sub appearance). Of the 21 starts, he has played ST 12 times and LW 9 times. His sub appearance was also LW.

But going through all of the goals and assists, I found that nearly all of them came when he was at ST. Some of them even came when he had started LW but had actually moved to ST.

Here is a breakdown of every goal and assist and where he was playing when he contributed:

Burnley (a) - ST: 3 goals. All scored from central positions in the box.
Arsenal (a) - ST: 2 goals. Both scored from central positions in the box.
Liverpool (h) - ST: 1 goal. Scored centrally from inside the penalty box.
Fulham (h) - ST: 1 goal, 1 assist. Goal scored centrally from just inside the box. Assist comes centrally, laying the ball off to Maddison inside left.
Palace (a) - ST: 1 goal. Scored centrally from inside the penalty box.
City (a) - ST: 1 goal, 1 assist. Goal scored on the counter attack inside right. Assist comes centrally laying it off to Gio.
Newcastle (h) - LW. 1 goal, 2 assists. Goal is scored from a penalty he wins once he has moved to ST! Both assists come from LW, outside man cutback.
Everton (h) - LW. 1 goal. Goal comes from a set piece (corner). We take it short, Johnson ends up shooting, shot parried to Son who scores from centrally in the penalty box (a theme here).
Brighton (a) - LW. 1 assist. But the assist comes once Son has moved to ST (up top with Veliz). Son inside right squares it for Veliz to slot home.
Bournemouth (h) - LW. 1 goal. Goal comes down the left side, Gio puts Son in and he takes it outside defender and fires it past the keeper.
Brighton (h) - LW. 1 assist. Assist comes down the left side, Son running in to space overlapping Richy delivers low to the far post for Johnson tap in.

So to summarise, he has scored 9 open play goals from ST, 1 penalty once he'd moved to ST, 1 goal from a set piece and just 1 goal from the LW position.

In terms of assists, he has 3 assists from LW and 3 assists from ST.

1 open play goal and 3 assists playing LW basically. Compared to 10 goals (9 open play), 3 assists as a striker. Just proves to me that in this system he is much more effective as a striker.

 

[ultimateloner]

He is always going to be a better CF than LW. It just wasn't as obvious when Kane was here. Now he is accomodating Richy. He just happens to be BOTH our best LW and CF. I think he knows this too but in the end its about the team not him.

 

[Mr Pink]

Have to admit, id be intrigued to see Werner, Son and Kukusevski as a front three....Johnson as well actually for some situations.

 

[mil1lion]

I think he'll go back up top now. We couldn't drop Richarlison on form but now it's 2 poor displays from him so dropping him is justified.

 

[Cochraam]

I went and looked at all of his goals and assists this season. He has 12 goals and 6 assists in the PL this season from 21 starts (1 sub appearance). Of the 21 starts, he has played ST 12 times and LW 9 times. His sub appearance was also LW.

But going through all of the goals and assists, I found that nearly all of them came when he was at ST. Some of them even came when he had started LW but had actually moved to ST.

Here is a breakdown of every goal and assist and where he was playing when he contributed:

Burnley (a) - ST: 3 goals. All scored from central positions in the box.
Arsenal (a) - ST: 2 goals. Both scored from central positions in the box.
Liverpool (h) - ST: 1 goal. Scored centrally from inside the penalty box.
Fulham (h) - ST: 1 goal, 1 assist. Goal scored centrally from just inside the box. Assist comes centrally, laying the ball off to Maddison inside left.
Palace (a) - ST: 1 goal. Scored centrally from inside the penalty box.
City (a) - ST: 1 goal, 1 assist. Goal scored on the counter attack inside right. Assist comes centrally laying it off to Gio.
Newcastle (h) - LW. 1 goal, 2 assists. Goal is scored from a penalty he wins once he has moved to ST! Both assists come from LW, outside man cutback.
Everton (h) - LW. 1 goal. Goal comes from a set piece (corner). We take it short, Johnson ends up shooting, shot parried to Son who scores from centrally in the penalty box (a theme here).
Brighton (a) - LW. 1 assist. But the assist comes once Son has moved to ST (up top with Veliz). Son inside right squares it for Veliz to slot home.
Bournemouth (h) - LW. 1 goal. Goal comes down the left side, Gio puts Son in and he takes it outside defender and fires it past the keeper.
Brighton (h) - LW. 1 assist. Assist comes down the left side, Son running in to space overlapping Richy delivers low to the far post for Johnson tap in.

So to summarise, he has scored 9 open play goals from ST, 1 penalty once he'd moved to ST, 1 goal from a set piece and just 1 goal from the LW position.

In terms of assists, he has 3 assists from LW and 3 assists from ST.

1 open play goal and 3 assists playing LW basically. Compared to 10 goals (9 open play), 3 assists as a striker. Just proves to me that in this system he is much more effective as a striker.

This is really interesting analysis, thank you for doing it! Worth also noting that his best performance at LW was against Newcastle where he was up against Trippier who has never been incredibly athletic and was absolutely dead on his feet for the game against us. Not a situation that will happen very often.

I think Richarlison offers us some things at CF that no one else on our team really does (best header of our attackers and he can pin a CB and receive to feet which he's done well a few times recently), but he's not so great at any of them that it's worth playing him at CF over Son for most games. In our current setup, Son is just taken out of the game too much and it really nullifies his best attribute (phenomenal finishing). Starting Son at CF and bringing Richarlison off the bench to change games could be really effective.

 

[only1waddle]

I went and looked at all of his goals and assists this season. He has 12 goals and 6 assists in the PL this season from 21 starts (1 sub appearance). Of the 21 starts, he has played ST 12 times and LW 9 times. His sub appearance was also LW.

But going through all of the goals and assists, I found that nearly all of them came when he was at ST. Some of them even came when he had started LW but had actually moved to ST.

Here is a breakdown of every goal and assist and where he was playing when he contributed:

Burnley (a) - ST: 3 goals. All scored from central positions in the box.
Arsenal (a) - ST: 2 goals. Both scored from central positions in the box.
Liverpool (h) - ST: 1 goal. Scored centrally from inside the penalty box.
Fulham (h) - ST: 1 goal, 1 assist. Goal scored centrally from just inside the box. Assist comes centrally, laying the ball off to Maddison inside left.
Palace (a) - ST: 1 goal. Scored centrally from inside the penalty box.
City (a) - ST: 1 goal, 1 assist. Goal scored on the counter attack inside right. Assist comes centrally laying it off to Gio.
Newcastle (h) - LW. 1 goal, 2 assists. Goal is scored from a penalty he wins once he has moved to ST! Both assists come from LW, outside man cutback.
Everton (h) - LW. 1 goal. Goal comes from a set piece (corner). We take it short, Johnson ends up shooting, shot parried to Son who scores from centrally in the penalty box (a theme here).
Brighton (a) - LW. 1 assist. But the assist comes once Son has moved to ST (up top with Veliz). Son inside right squares it for Veliz to slot home.
Bournemouth (h) - LW. 1 goal. Goal comes down the left side, Gio puts Son in and he takes it outside defender and fires it past the keeper.
Brighton (h) - LW. 1 assist. Assist comes down the left side, Son running in to space overlapping Richy delivers low to the far post for Johnson tap in.

So to summarise, he has scored 9 open play goals from ST, 1 penalty once he'd moved to ST, 1 goal from a set piece and just 1 goal from the LW position.

In terms of assists, he has 3 assists from LW and 3 assists from ST.

1 open play goal and 3 assists playing LW basically. Compared to 10 goals (9 open play), 3 assists as a striker. Just proves to me that in this system he is much more effective as a striker.

Great breakdown.
Essentially he's a bit wasted out wide simply hugging the touchline and playing outside the inverted fullbacks, against a low block we couldn't even use him as an agent of chaos with his ability to shift and shoot from range.

 

[thebenjamin]

Son is only really good up front against teams that leave space in behind. Against a low block he's a problem at 9 because his hold up play isn't much better than Richy's, and he can't head the ball so you can't cross it in the air.

 

[Dazzazzad]

Son is only really good up front against teams that leave space in behind. Against a low block he's a problem at 9 because his hold up play isn't much better than Richy's, and he can't head the ball so you can't cross it in the air.

True but if you're working passing moves around the edge of the box to create a half chance I'd want the half chance to fall to Son. He can shoot with either foot, which helps a hell of a lot in tight situations.

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

Son is only really good up front against teams that leave space in behind. Against a low block he's a problem at 9 because his hold up play isn't much better than Richy's, and he can't head the ball so you can't cross it in the air.

Bingo. I don’t actually think Son’s back to goal play is as good as Richy. Until the last couple matches (where the whole team were below par) Richy had vastly improved his hold up play. He was bringing the ball under control under pressure from centre backs and finding a pass. Son just can’t do that battling bigger centre backs.

Yes Son can perform as a CF against attacking teams but he’s useless again bus parkers in that role. I think it’s totally unfair to write off Richy basically because he didn’t score for two matches. It’s like fans were waiting for their “I told you so” moment after his rapid improvement over the 9-10 matches previously.

 

[stevespurs]

Inverted FB, Son and Maddison created a fairly congested area, and often the cross was down to Davies (who hit first defender every time). Udogie keeps the ball on the deck more, rather than crosses, he runs the ball into the box, drawing defenders. Madders and Son then can find space.

I’d like to see Sonny central, with Madders floating L and R looking for gaps and 1-2’s. Especially without Udogie.

Next season, I’d love a winger that can beat their man around the outside, then Richy would become more dangerous too.

 

[SirHarryHotspur]

Sonny has already publicly turned down a move to Saudi and after the Henderson saga you would think these crappy rumour sites would give up.

Al-Ittihad will target Tottenham's 31-year-old South Korea forward Son Heung-min and Liverpool's 31-year-old Egypt forward Mohamed Salah in the summer transfer window. (Football Transfers)

 

[easley91]

Sonny has already publicly turned down a move to Saudi and after the Henderson saga you would think these crappy rumour sites would give up.

Al-Ittihad will target Tottenham's 31-year-old South Korea forward Son Heung-min and Liverpool's 31-year-old Egypt forward Mohamed Salah in the summer transfer window. (Football Transfers)

They're so crappy yet you share them? Best to just ignore completely and move on. Also it doesn't say he's interested, just that he's wanted by the club in question. Hardly groundbreaking stuff.

 

[SirHarryHotspur]

They're so crappy yet you share them? Best to just ignore completely and move on. Also it doesn't say he's interested, just that he's wanted by the club in question. Hardly groundbreaking stuff.

Mawspurs is doing it all the time , now running one that we are thinking of re-signing KWP.

 

[alexis]

I went and looked at all of his goals and assists this season. He has 12 goals and 6 assists in the PL this season from 21 starts (1 sub appearance). Of the 21 starts, he has played ST 12 times and LW 9 times. His sub appearance was also LW.

But going through all of the goals and assists, I found that nearly all of them came when he was at ST. Some of them even came when he had started LW but had actually moved to ST.

Here is a breakdown of every goal and assist and where he was playing when he contributed:

Burnley (a) - ST: 3 goals. All scored from central positions in the box.
Arsenal (a) - ST: 2 goals. Both scored from central positions in the box.
Liverpool (h) - ST: 1 goal. Scored centrally from inside the penalty box.
Fulham (h) - ST: 1 goal, 1 assist. Goal scored centrally from just inside the box. Assist comes centrally, laying the ball off to Maddison inside left.
Palace (a) - ST: 1 goal. Scored centrally from inside the penalty box.
City (a) - ST: 1 goal, 1 assist. Goal scored on the counter attack inside right. Assist comes centrally laying it off to Gio.
Newcastle (h) - LW. 1 goal, 2 assists. Goal is scored from a penalty he wins once he has moved to ST! Both assists come from LW, outside man cutback.
Everton (h) - LW. 1 goal. Goal comes from a set piece (corner). We take it short, Johnson ends up shooting, shot parried to Son who scores from centrally in the penalty box (a theme here).
Brighton (a) - LW. 1 assist. But the assist comes once Son has moved to ST (up top with Veliz). Son inside right squares it for Veliz to slot home.
Bournemouth (h) - LW. 1 goal. Goal comes down the left side, Gio puts Son in and he takes it outside defender and fires it past the keeper.
Brighton (h) - LW. 1 assist. Assist comes down the left side, Son running in to space overlapping Richy delivers low to the far post for Johnson tap in.

So to summarise, he has scored 9 open play goals from ST, 1 penalty once he'd moved to ST, 1 goal from a set piece and just 1 goal from the LW position.

In terms of assists, he has 3 assists from LW and 3 assists from ST.

1 open play goal and 3 assists playing LW basically. Compared to 10 goals (9 open play), 3 assists as a striker. Just proves to me that in this system he is much more effective as a striker.

Virgin

 

[npearl4spurs]

Per BBC: Son Heung-Min has been involved in 19 goals in his last 20 Premier League appearances for Spurs (13 goals, 6 assists) and he has scored nine goals against Crystal Palace in the competition, only netting more against Southampton (10).

 

[kmk]

 

[npearl4spurs]

I think Richarlison makes the same move and is in the same position and it is Sonny's goal if he were playing. But still hats off

 

[HNIM]

I’d like an interviewer to go over that with him. He might just be dropping into an open space to better receive a pass. But the beauty of having a player like him is to see the defense panic like that. Very nice bit of video, that.

 

[C1w8]

I’d like an interviewer to go over that with him. He might just be dropping into an open space to better receive a pass. But the beauty of having a player like him is to see the defense panic like that. Very nice bit of video, that.

As much as I love Son all he's done is just make a movement in the hope he finds a pocket of space, which in this case he didn't as the two defenders nearest him read it. IQ to stop his run to try and score sure but not exactly a savvy move to intentionally pull the line.

If anything it's more credit to Johnson for threading the needle (with a bit of luck given the fine margin the pass finds to make it through the defenders), great anticipation from Werner to make a dart to the only space in the box and reading/anticipating Johnson will play it there, and poor defending from no 12.