Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min rejected the comparison, praising his former teammate Harry Kane (Bayern Munich) higher than himself.
Son Heung-min started and scored an additional goal in the match between Tottenham and Crystal Palace in the 10th round of the 2023/24 Premier League season held at Selhurst Park in London, England on the 28th (Korean time), contributing to the team’s 2-1 win. .
Son Heung-min, who started as a frontline striker in the 4-2-3-1 system on this day, scored in the 21st minute of the second half in the match against Palace following the previous match against Fulham, scoring his 8th league goal and leading the team to victory. Son Heung-min played the full game this game, his first time in 7 games since the 3rd round match against Burnley.
Son Heung-min put strong pressure on the opponent’s defense from the beginning of the first half. In the 3rd minute of the first half, defender Tyreek Mitchell passed a pass to goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, and Son Heung-min clung to him and interfered with the pass. Johnstone was momentarily embarrassed and barely escaped the crisis with a long pass. In the ensuing attack scene, Pape Sar saved the ball just before it crossed the goal line and crossed, but it ended up heading towards the defender instead of Son Heung-min, who was located in the center.
Son Heung-min also created an attack opportunity by collaborating with James Madison. In the 9th minute of the first half, Richarlison gave the ball to Maddison, who was rushing to the left of the penalty box, and Maddison checked Son Heung-min infiltrating the center, but was unable to cross right away. Madison, who missed the timing, attempted a cutback pass from a deeper position, but was caught by the defense, wasting the opportunity to attack.
Starting with Son Heung-min’s pass, Madison got the opportunity. In the 14th minute of the first half, Son Heung-min simply received a long pass in front of the opponent’s penalty box and gave it away, and after receiving the ball, Maddison was fouled while dribbling and was given a free kick opportunity. Yves Bissouma, who took the kicker, aimed for the goal, but the ball headed toward the stands rather than inside the goal.
However, Palace rarely allowed opportunities due to their solid defense. In the 26th minute of the first half, Son Heung-min and Maddison linked up to try to enter the penalty box, but were blocked by a defensive tackle. In the ensuing attack scene, Maddison’s cross was caught by center back Joachim Andersen, and the ball could not reach Son Heung-min, who was in front of the goal.
Tottenham also did not seem to be lagging behind in defense. In the 27th minute of the first half, Mark Hughes and Oduson Edouard linked up to attempt a breakthrough from the front of the penalty box arc, but Tottenham center back Christian Romero blocked the pass attempt and regained possession of the ball.
Tottenham rarely had a chance until the end of the first half. At the end of regular time in the first half, Palace had 8 shots on target, while Tottenham had 3 shots and none on target. In the end, the first half ended 0-0 with neither team scoring.
Tottenham took the lead by scoring the first goal in the second half. In the 8th minute of the second half, Sarr received Pedro Foro’s pass from the right side of the penalty box and immediately attempted a pass, which hit the defender and headed toward Madison. Maddison sent a low cross towards the central player, but the ball hit Joel Ward’s foot and went straight into Palace’s net.
Tottenham, who started to take the lead thanks to the opponent’s own goal, clearly set the tone for the game with Son Heung-min’s additional goal. In the 21st minute of the second half, Brennan Johnson, who received a pass from Sarr, gave the ball to Madison, and Johnson, who again received a pass from Madison, attempted a cutback pass, which Son Heung-min, located in the center of the penalty box, completed with an accurate left-footed shot and succeeded in scoring. It was a scene where Son Heung-min’s positioning and finishing ability shined.
Afterwards, Tottenham allowed Palace to counterattack in extra time in the second half. Poro was unable to properly clear the opponent’s long pass with a header, and Jordan IU, who was waiting behind Poro, caught the ball and hit the Tottenham net with a volley shot. IU’s handball foul was suspected and additional confirmation was made through video review (VAR), but the goal was recognized as a goal. However, no additional goals were allowed and the team eventually won 2-1.
In this game, Son Heung-min had some shortcomings in the offensive department, such as creating an opportunity once, shooting twice, successfully dribbling once, and having a 100% long pass success rate, but he made good use of one opportunity and led the team to victory. Tottenham could have given Palace a draw without Son Heung-min’s winning goal, so Son Heung-min’s scoring value was enough to be evaluated more highly.
The Premier League selected Son Heung-min as the official MOTM (Man of the Match) and acknowledged that the victory in this game was thanks to Son Heung-min’s score.
Various media outlets also gave Son Heung-min high praise. First, soccer statistics media Footmob selected Son Heung-min as the best player of the day. Son Heung-min received a rating of 7.7 points, and behind Son Heung-min, Romero (7.6 points), Foro (7.6 points), and Bissouma (7.4 points) received high ratings. Whoscored.com, another soccer statistics media, also gave Son Heung-min a rating of 7.3 points, giving him the highest rating in Tottenham.
The media also gave relatively good evaluations of Son Heung-min. The British media Evening Standard gave Son Heung-min 7 points, second in the team, and said, “He once again put his name on the scorecard with a finish like an instinctive score hunter. As a lethal number 9, his career is entering a new phase.” He praised the scoring ability of Son Heung-min, who transformed into a striker.
Son Heung-min also expressed satisfaction with his performance. In an interview with Britain’s Sky Sports after the game, Son Heung-min said, “I’m enjoying every moment. The players are working very hard to win the game. I’m happy to be here and help the team.” revealed.
Son Heung-min, who gave his thoughts on the game, answered that it was too early to ask about the possibility of winning the Premier League. With the win against Palace, Tottenham succeeded in maintaining the lead with 26 points (8 wins, 2 draws), although they played one more game than others. Tottenham is followed closely by Manchester City (21 points, 7 wins, 2 losses) and Arsenal (21 points, 6 wins, 3 draws).
Although there are still 28 games remaining, some argued that Tottenham’s possibility of winning cannot be ignored. Prior to the Palace match, ‘ESPN’ reported that, like Tottenham this season, there were a total of 8 teams in the Premier League that had accumulated more than 23 points through the 9th round of the league, of which 4 teams succeeded in winning the championship, 3 teams finished runner-up, and the remaining 1 team He explained that he finished the season in 3rd place.
Therefore, according to statistics, Tottenham attracted attention by claiming that not only did they secure at least third place this season, but they also had a 50% chance of winning the Premier League.
However, regarding the possibility of winning, Son Heung-min said, “I am not thinking about it at all. I cannot say that we will win the league because I have a lot of experience,” and “I want to remain humble because it is early in the season.”
He added: “We want to get three points from every game and then see what happens later in the season. Let’s work hard and see what happens.”짱구카지노 주소
Son Heung-min also opened his mouth when asked about the scoring competition with his partner Harry Kane. Kane, Tottenham’s best striker of all time alongside Son Heung-min until last season, transferred to German Bundesliga champion Bayern Munich through the summer transfer window before the season began.
Kane not only scored the most goals in the club’s history, scoring 280 goals and 64 assists in 435 games for Tottenham’s first team, but also earned a reputation as the best combination in Premier League history with Son Heung-min. Son Heung-min and Kane have scored a whopping 47 goals over the past eight years (Kane 23 goals, 24 assists, Son Heung-min 24 goals, 23 assists), and Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard have scored 36 goals together at Chelsea (Drogba 24 goals, 12 assists, Lampard They surpassed the record (12 goals, 24 assists) and became the duo with the most goals in Premier League history.
Therefore, it was expected that Kane’s departure for Munich would be bad news for both Tottenham and Son Heung-min, but Son Heung-min broke everyone’s expectations and showed off his incredible scoring pace, putting Tottenham at the top of the league.
Son Heung-min scored his 8th league goal with an additional goal against Palace, rising to second place on the Premier League scoring list, and is closely chasing first place Erling Holland (9 goals, Manchester City). Kane also scored 9 goals in the league after moving to Munich, ranking second in Bundesliga scoring behind Seru Girassi (Stuttgart, 14 goals).
Despite his current performance comparable to Kane, Son Heung-min showed humility by refusing to compare himself to Kane, saying, “Kane is on a different level than me.”
At the same time, he could not hide his joy at his teammate’s performance, saying, “The Bundesliga is another difficult league, and seeing Kane completely dominate it makes me very happy for him.”