Tottenham Hotspur will face Manchester City in the 14th round of the 2023-2024 season of the English Premier League (PL) at 1:30 a.m. on the 4th (Korea Standard Time) at Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England.
Currently, Tottenham ranks fifth in the league with 26 points. Since the season’s opening, they have been undefeated in 10 games and have lost all three games to fall back to fifth. Manchester City is second in the league after Arsenal (30 points) with 29 points.
Tottenham was bogged down for three consecutive losses as it lost all three games including Chelsea and Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa. Tottenham scored the first goal in all three of their losing matches. In their match against Chelsea on April 7, Christian Romero and Destiny Udogi left the game despite scoring the first goal, and Mickey van der Ben and James Maddison left the ground due to injury, losing 1-4.
Tottenham, which changed its starting lineup to five players in the game against Wolverhampton Wanderers that followed, showed problems both in attack and defense. The attack was not smooth due to Madison’s absence, and Tottenham’s defense, without Romero and Van der Ben, was embarrassed by Wolverhampton’s strong forward pressure. In the end, Villa and Tottenham in Gyeonggi Province lost 1-2 without keeping Brennan Johnson’s first goal.
In the last match against Villa, Son had as many as three off-side hits. Son has no goal in the last three games, but his share of the team is huge. Son has the most sprints and the most off-side hits (eight times) in the league at the same time. 스포츠토토
Son Heung-min seemed to add a goal in the 44th minute of the first half of the match against Villa, when he was leading 1-0. Son Heung-min caught the ball that Hoivier pushed and immediately rushed to the box and shot it. The net was shaken, but offside was declared.
Son Heung-min’s score seemed to come out in the 14th minute of the second half when it was 1-1, but it was not recognized as a goal as Johnson’s offside decision came out in the previous scene. In the 40th minute of the second half, which was 1-2 behind, Son Heung-min pushed the ball that protruded into the goal after the prisoner hit it, but it was declared offside again.
Amid the ongoing offside decision, Son Heung-min failed to score in the end. When Son Heung-min was silent, other players also showed regret in their decision-making power, and Tottenham failed to score additional points. From Tottenham’s point of view, the team’s silence overwhelmed the game and led to defeat.
Son Heung-min cried when he cancelled his scoring three times, but did not look too bad. He displayed sharp movements, including a pass success rate of 88 percent (22/25), creating three chances, shooting two times, touching nine times in the opponent’s box, and passing two times in the attacking area. He only scored no goal, but displayed fairly good performance.
Some criticized Son’s offside scene in the match against Villa as he did not trust his teammates and attempted excessive attacks. However, a closer look at the current situation of Tottenham’s offense reveals that it is wrong. Most likely, Son will shoot himself.
Looking at the number of PL Big Chance generated by soccer statistics firm Sopa Score, Son Heung-min is tied for third with seven times. However, he has only one assist. Indeed, none of the top-ranked players in creating Big Chance have garnered less assistance than Son.
Compared to teammates James Maddison (six Big Chance generations, five Big Chance generations) and James Ward Frouse (six Big Chance generations, five Big Chance generations), who have six fewer Big Chance generations than Son Heung-min, you can see how much Tottenham teammates did not eat Son Heung-min’s honey pass.
Coach Enzi Postecoglou explained Son Heung-min’s offside record and supported him. “Since Sonny is a different kind of striker from Kane, there is no choice but to be tactically different,” he said. “Players have different timings.”
“It is true that Son Heung-min was in the offside position in every goal scene. Still, if only one-thousandth of a second passed, Son’s timing was perfect,” Postecoglou said. “He still makes threatening shots and scores goals. That is the most important thing.”
“I think everyone knows that Son is still strong. Not only does he score, but he is also the core of his team in many aspects. You just have to trust him and wait for him,” he continued.