Heung-min Son’s 100th Premier League goal could hardly have been a more trademark finish, the Korean creating a pocket of space from 25 yards and bending a magnificent effort into the top corner to open the scoring in Tottenham’s 2-1 win over Brighton last weekend.
Son has scored this type of goal over and over again for Spurs, from both sides and with either foot, and the strike was a reminder of the quality that has largely been missing from his game this season.
Brighton’s visit was only the fifth League game in which the Golden Boot-holder has found the net this term and, not for the first time, the question ahead of Saturday’s match against Bournemouth is whether it will prove a turning point for Son or another bright moment in an underwhelming campaign.
Son has burst into life three or four times this season, most notably with a stunning hat-trick from the bench against Leicester, but never produced a run of form. Speaking last weekend, however, Son was certain he will keep scoring, provided he can get in the right positions.
“I try to always be in this position [as against Brighton], but sometimes it’s difficult because [the defenders] don’t want me to shoot in this position,” Son said. “But also, it’s kind of where [the way] we play, like we want to sometimes be crossing the ball more, so then I have to be in the box because I have to leave the wing-backs in a one-versus-one situation...
“If I’m in this position [as against Brighton], I’m really, really confident I’ll score goals. Look at last season, how many I scored in this position, so if I have these chances I can score more.”
Son has refused to make excuses for failing to hit “the top level” but, reading between the lines, he clearly feels he has not been able to get in the right areas to score, in part because of Spurs’s reliance on wing-backs and Antonio Conte’s tactics. Son’s message to Conte’s successor, acting head coach Cristian Stellini, is obvious: ‘Get me in the right areas and I’ll be back to scoring like last season’.
Stellini has so far altered next to nothing about Conte’s approach, but if there is one change he could make which would put Spurs back in the driving seat for a top-four finish, it is get Son back playing where he thrives: on the shoulder of the last man and driving inside from the flanks.
The initial signs are positive, with Son adding last weekend: “[My performance] was more a case of position and being able to make the runs I like, and Brighton played quite a high line, which gave me space to run in behind.”
The win was overshadowed by refereeing controversies and the antics of Roberto De Zerbi but, for all Spurs rode their luck, it was another illustration that Son and Harry Kane, who scored the winner, are good enough to paper over the deepest cracks in their side.
Really, the story of post-Pochettino Spurs has been Son and Kane bailing out a dysfunctional side time and again, and if they are to return to the Champions League at the end of a tricky run-in, starting against the Cherries, they probably need both their star forwards firing again. Son has told Stellini how to make it happen.
