Phil Thompson heaped praise on Tottenham attacker Heung-min Son after watching him score a brace in Spurs’ 5-0 victory over Bournemouth on Wednesday.
The Sky Sports pundit shared that the 26-year-old winger was a joy to watch and was full of praise for Son as Tottenham secured a very comfortable win against the Cherries.
“You’ve got Heung-min Son, another brace from him, he got two against Everton, so two in two after this game, he’s just absolutely on fire and he is a joy to watch when he is like this,” said Thompson on Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday (Sky Sports News, December 26, 17:36).
Thompson was then asked by Sky Sports Jeff Stelling how greatly Spurs would be effected by the upcoming departure of Son as he pointed out the player was set to depart to take part in the Asia Cup shortly and the Liverpool legend responded by suggesting that the 26-year-old was irreplaceable to Mauricio Pochettino.
“On this form, probably not (able to be replaced) as he gets substituted after scoring two and everyone is applauding, he has such an impact on this team now because you want defences to be opened up and he can go both ways, on to his left foot or on to his right foot and he can cause all sorts of problems,” added the Sky pundit.
“That is very difficult to find someone exactly like that so I think he will be a massive, massive miss to Spurs.”
OPINION
Thompson is 100% correct with his verdict when it comes to his praise of Son as well as the fact he is clearly worried about how Spurs will cope with out the South Korea international. As of late the 26-year-old has been in top form and it just means that his imminent departure is going to be felt even more than previously expected. While Spurs probably won’t overly struggle for goals without him as they have plenty of goals spread out across their team, his absence will still be a noticeable one. Whether starting games or coming off the bench, Son is the type of player able to take a match by the scruff of the neck and really force the win across the line for his side regardless of how anyone else is playing. With fixtures coming thick and fast and players no doubt set to start feeling the strain of playing a lot of football in quick succession, those type of players are worth their weight in gold.