‘I couldn’t help my teammates’ – Heung-min Son admits he must improve one area of his game

Son Heung-min has said that he feels partly responsible for Tottenham’s loss against Aston Villa, insisting that he has to get better at beating the offside trap.

With Villa defending with quite a high line, Tottenham had a lot of joy in behind them, particularly in the first half.

However, the home side were not able to make the most of their opportunities, fluffing their lines on multiple occasions and hitting the post twice.

Son had the ball in the back of the net three times during the game but all of the goals were chalked off for offside.

In contrast, the visitors were more clinical in the final third, scoring the equaliser from a set-piece just ahead of the internal before Ollie Watkins netted the match-winner against the run of play on 61 minutes.

Captain Sonny says he needs to stay onside

In the end, it was Tottenham’s poor finishing that let them down, and Son admitted that he feels responsible for the defeat.

When asked about being unlucky to have three goals chalked off, the forward told Sports Chosun: “It’s not really about whether you are lucky or not. It is what it is. I am not someone who lets everything depend on luck. I think that this happened because I didn’t prepare more.

“I wouldn’t have been caught offside if I made bigger movements or were more diligent off the ball. I can’t help but think about areas I can improve on in those situations. I feel more responsibility because I feel like I couldn’t help my teammates today.”

Spurs Web Opinion

While Son is an outstanding finisher with both feet, he could undoubtedly improve some aspects of his game to continue as a number nine. One is to be more wary of the offside trap as he had no reason to stray offside for two of his three goals.

Another is his ability in the air as he missed what should have been a couple of straight-forward headers, failing to even make contact with Bryan Gil’s inch-perfect cross in the first half.