Paul Merson has hailed Heung-min Son’s work-rate as “priceless” after the South Korean forward ran Crystal Palace ragged in Tottenham’s 4-0 win against the Eagles in North London on Saturday.
Son, 27, scored his first and second goals of the season as Spurs blew Palace away in the first half and set themselves on their way to their first win since the opening day.
After the match, ex-Arsenal player Merson was full of praise for Son and the way that his tireless runs were used as a battering ram against the Palace defence, forcing Mamadou Sakho and Gary Cahill to play a lot deeper than they would have been told to by Roy Hodgson before the game.
“He’s willing to run without the ball and that’s priceless,” said Merson on Saturday, as shown via Sky Sports’ website.
“A lot of players want to make runs and they need to get the ball otherwise they’re not going to make runs.
“He doesn’t. He’s constantly making runs which pushes the defenders back.
“They were dropping deeper and deeper, Sakho and Cahill, because of Son’s runs.
“And then all of a sudden, Eriksen was getting into positions and they ran riot.”
TIF Tactics – Son masterclass
Son may have scored two goals in Spurs’ 4-0 win against Palace, but there was so much more to his display than just his ability to stick the ball in the back of the net.
According to stats by WhoScored, the South Korea international made one key pass, completed the one dribble he attempted, peppered the Palace goal with five shots – more than any other player on the pitch – and also made two tackles, which was only bettered by Christian Eriksen’s two.
Son was also dispossessed just once by Palace’s defence and considering the fact that happened four times to Erik Lamela and he had 45 touches of the ball in the attack, that is very impressive.
Harry Kane played up front alongside Son and while the England captain did supply one assist, the movement and overall influence in play that Son had in comparison is clear to see in the pairs’ heatmaps.
Below is a heatmap of where Kane touched the ball in the match throughout the 90 minutes.
Son’s heatmap is below this and you can clearly see just how much more of the pitch the ex-Bayer Leverkusen forward covered for Tottenham as they thrashed Palace on their way to a big three points.
It will take one massive defensive effort by sides to stop Son when he is in full flight like he was on Saturday.