Things may not be going Son Heung-min's way at present but Hugo Lloris has hailed his Tottenham teammate. Finishing last campaign in stunning form to win the Premier League Golden Boot, the South Korean has failed to score in his first five appearances this term.
In action against West Ham on Wednesday evening, the 30-year-old would have netted the opener at the London Stadium had Thilo Kehrer not put the ball through his own net from Harry Kane's cross. Later going close with a deflected effort that just went over the crossbar, Son remained on the pitch for the full 90 minutes but the wait for his first goal of 2022/23 goes on.
Despite his current woes in the final third, Spurs captain Lloris is confident that it will go his way sooner rather than later. The Frenchman has also praised the club's No.7 for the big contribution he is making to the team with his defensive work.
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"He's still looking for his first goal, he's an offensive player. They need the confidence and the confident they get only by scoring goals," said the World Cup winner.
"We cannot forget the work he has done. He's completely involved. Without the ball he's making a lot of runs to help the defence and offensively it's going to come for sure because he's a top player with a top mentality. Also it's a busy period and we need to make sure everybody is ready to help the team."
Seeing their one-goal lead cancelled out by Tomas Soucek's low strike, West Ham did look most likely to get a winner late on with Jarrod Bowen going close. Opening up on the team's performance, the World Cup winner outlined what the team could have done better at the London Stadium.
"Well today we tried to respect our identity, the way the manager demands us to play," said the experienced shot-stopper. "At some point, we took a bit of risk, especially at 1-1 but that's the way we want to play and we need to carry on.
"I think in the first half we controlled the game very well, obviously we lost a few balls in the middle of the pitch and we know the speed they have, they went on counter-attack. But in the second half they pressed higher and we could have managed the ball better, especially we could have used the space better in behind their defence. Because when you play from the back you try to attack them as much as you can and in two or three passes you try to go forward.
"Again, the opponent deserves credit. They're a tough opponent and it's a tough place to deal with. We have to move on, keeping positive spirit. Because we're still unbeaten. The way I reflect about the game is the way we all think. We want to win every game but we cannot control everything and we need to get what we deserve today and carry on our job.
"We cannot forget also that they had one or two chances to score. If we lose this game, it makes things very bad so let's continue this positive run."
Lloris believes things may have been different had they pushed more for a second goal in the first half.
"As I said, we could have lost the game at the end, the two chances. Obviously as I said, we start every game to win but then there's an opponent and it's the Premier League. We're still unbeaten," he claimed.
"To get one point here is good, it's not bad even if our expectation is to come here to win. I believe in the first half if we pushed a bit more, we controlled so well the game, if we pushed a bit more we could have pushed to get a second goal. But it's part of the game.
"The season is very long and also we have to learn from the past. When you can't win, like today in the second half at 1-1, you don't lose. It's still one point."
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