Sky Sports spotlights Son Heung-min “Evolution after Kane left”

The rate of ball touches inside the opponent's box has nearly doubled.
Sprint distance for forward pressure is '1st overall' in EPL.

‘Captain’ Son Heung-min, who leads Tottenham Hotspur in the English professional football Premier League (EPL), received intensive attention from local media.

British media Sky Sports reported on the 20th (Korean time), “Son Heung-min is performing at his best under coach Angie Postekoglou after Harry Kane left for Bayern Munich.”

Son Heung-min changed his position from the side to the front line after Kane, who was the lone striker, left.

Contrary to concerns, Son Heung-min is performing brilliantly in a different position. With 6 goals in 8 regular league games, he is tied for second in the scoring rankings with Alexander Isaac (Newcastle), following Erling Holland (Manchester City, 8 goals).

Tottenham is also in first place in the EPL with undefeated (6 wins, 2 draws) in its opening 8 games.

Sky Sports covered the changes in Tottenham in detail after Kane left. The media explained, “We expected Kane’s departure to have a negative impact on Son Heung-min, but instead, he scored 6 goals in 4 games and was selected as the player of September,” adding, “He evolved further as he took on a different role.”

He continued, “Son Heung-min has the ability to finish powerfully with both feet. “He is following a similar path to Cristiano Ronaldo (Al Nasr), who moved from the wing to a central striker,” he added.

He shows up well in the numbers too. Son Heung-min's ball touch rate in the opponent's penalty box was less than 10% for the previous three seasons, but this season it increased to 19.4%.

He is also playing a key role in the forward pressure pursued by coach Postekoglu.

Sky Sports introduced that Son Heung-min ranked first in the entire league in sprint distance for forward pressure, recording 1,314m. They were followed by Dominic Szoboslaui (Liverpool, 1,309 m) and Anthony Gordon (Newcastle, 1,293 m).

At Tottenham, Dejan Kulusevski ranks 5th in this category (951m).

The media said, “Son Heung-min’s athletic ability is still amazing. “He has run more distances to put pressure on the opponent’s defense than any other player in the EPL so far,” he said.

He said, “Tottenham has a dedicated striker who creates space for his teammates. “This suits Coach Postekoglou’s style perfectly,” he said, emphasizing that “Kane’s departure changed Son Heung-min.”

Meanwhile, Tottenham will play the 9th round EPL home game against Fulham on the 24th.


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