Football.London’s Alasdair Gold has revealed that Ange Postecoglou was not happy with some of the positions that Son Heung-min was taking up against Newcastle and was constantly yelling at his captain to show for the ball.
It was another away performance to forget for Tottenham last Saturday as they were thrashed 4-0 by Newcastle who tactically suffocated the away side and hit them on the break clinically.
The Lilywhites struggled to fashion opportunities, with their attacking players failing to produce anything of note despite having a lot of the ball.
Son started as the centre-forward again and struggled to get involved in the game, with Postecoglou deciding to take off his captain on 57 minutes as part of a triple change.
Postecoglou wants Son to show for the ball more
Gold has now revealed that Postecoglou was repeatedly shouting at the Spurs captain to show for the ball whenever the Tottenham defenders or Guglielmo Vicario had the ball but the journalist pointed out that playing with his back to the goal is not the South Korean’s strength.
Gold wrote: “Son Heung-min has been there for Tottenham so many times when they have needed him this season, but he struggled in the central role on Saturday. He touched the ball just 26 times and didn’t have a single shot at goal or a dribble forward.
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“As others were marked, too often Postecoglou would have to call Son back into his own half to give Vicario or the defence an option to pass to rather than boot it long where it was just lost every time, but that’s just not Son’s strength.
“Playing with his back to the play is something he has improved on in recent years but he’s not a strong, hold-up striker that the team can play off, he’s a driving force and more comfortable when he’s facing the goal.
“So disappointing was Son’s display – he was by no means alone in that – that Postecoglou took him off after just 58 minutes as part of a triple change. The solemn look on the South Korean’s face said it all.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Postecoglou has never competed with the calibre of managers that he is at the moment at Premier League level.
The other coaches were always going to adapt to Tottenham’s system once its strengths and weaknesses became apparent and we have seen some clear signs of that over the past couple of months.
It is now up to the Australian to perhaps make some tweaks to stay one step ahead of his counterparts, which is something that Conte failed to do.
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