Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou faces sleepless nights after Son Heung-min form in December
Son Heung-min’s incredible form in December will act as a reminder to Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou that replacing his skipper in January will be an impossible task.
Son ended 2023 with a goal as he netted in Spurs’ 3-1 victory over Bournemouth at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on New Year’s Eve.
It has been an incredible season so far for the South Korea international, who has played the majority of his football up top for Postecoglou following Harry Kane’s departure to Bayern Munich in the summer.
While discussing the 31-year-old’s positional switch in early November, Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville was full of praise for the Tottenham captain.
The former Manchester United right-back told Sky Sports (via Daily Express, 7 November), “How good is Son playing as a centre-forward? Honestly, a couple of years ago you were watching him and I thought his legs had gone.”
“He’s just revitalised, back to his best, brilliant player, he’s thriving in that central role.”
Since that point, Son’s performances have gone up another level, with WhoScored pointing out via their official X account (1 January) that the forward was directly involved in more goals than any other player in the Premier League throughout December, a month in which he played most of his football at left-wing, demonstarting his versatility.
His four goals and four assists throughout the month brought his total for the 2023/24 Premier League campaign to 12 goals and five assists, and his finish against the Cherries proved just how lethal the former Bayer Leverkusen man is in front of goal.
As the ball broke for Giovani Lo Celso in midfield, Son was alert and made a run forward.
Lo Celso picked out his captain with a delightful pass, which left Son with plenty of space to run into.
He managed to stay composed, despite finding himself at a tight angle.
With little of the goal to aim at, he still managed to find the corner, driving a powerful strike past Neto to double the Tottenham lead at a time when they found themselves under considerable pressure.
As well as his goal, his overall performance demonstrated just how important he is in north London. As per Sofascore, Son completed 97 per cent of his passes, with two of those being key, created one big chance, won three ground duels and made two tackles.
As he now turns his attention to South Korea and the Asia Cup, Postecoglou will be having sleepless nights at the prospect of playing as many as four league matches and two FA Cup fixtures without his talisman.
Not only are his goals important, but Son’s progressive play style is key to the way Postecoglou wants his teams to operate.
As per fbref, Son ranks among the top one per cent of his positional peers in the Premier League this season for the number of progressive passes he has received (9.80 per 90), the top four per cent for the number of progressive passes he has played (4.48 per 90) and the top nine per cent for his total progressive carries (3.04 per 90).
If those numbers didn’t already prove that Son is irreplaceable at Tottenham, then his Premier League-leading form in December certainly does.
In other Tottenham news, high-flying Girona are keen on signing one Spurs defender in an unexpected twist.