Postecoglou must now boldly drop Son for Spurs' "fearless" phenomenon
da luck： It would be fair to say that this season has been one of Tottenham Hotspur’s worst for a very long time.
da cassino： The North Londoners look just as defensively fragile as they did last year, but as Thursday night showed, they no longer possess the attacking dynamism that was the foundation of Ange Postecoglou’s system.
It was a truly dire display from practically the entire team, apart from maybe Lucas Bergvall and Pape Matar Sarr when he came on in the second half.
It was also yet another bad day at the office for Son Heung-min, and while he remains captain of the club and an icon of the Premier League, Postecoglou has to take him out of the lineup for today’s game, and start someone who could help the club into a new era.
Why Son should be dropped
So, the first thing we should say is that Son has been one of the best wingers in the Premier League since he joined the North Londoners almost a decade ago, and even today, he has amassed a great tally of 23 goal involvements in 41 games this season.
However, as most Spurs fans will almost certainly attest to, the South Korean’s output has helped to mask the fact that he simply cannot impact games in the way he used to, be that running at defenders or making perfectly timed runs in behind.
Unfortunately, as we’ll all be one day, the Chuncheon-born ace is just another victim of the passage of time; as in the summer, he is set to turn 33, and while that might not be old in the normal world, for a footballer and specifically a winger, it certainly is.
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For example, according to research carried out by The Athletic a few years ago, the age at which a wide player hits their peak is 26, and worse yet, the age at which their ability to take on and beat defenders dramatically declines is 30.
This is something you can see with the Bayer Leverkusen ace when you watch him play, and it is backed up by the data, as, according to FBref, he sits in the bottom 45% of attacking midfielders and wingers for successful take-ons in the Premier League this season and then against Chelsea, he didn’t even attempt a dribble.
In all, Son certainly still has a role to play for Spurs over the next few years, but he should become more of a squad player, someone who starts the less important games or comes off the bench when the team need a goal, and in his place, Postecoglou should start a winger the team should be building around.
The Spurs gem who should start in place of Son
So, there are a few possibilities for who should start off the left this afternoon, from loanee Mathys Tel to summer signing Wilson Odobert, but for our money, it’s time Mikey Moore was given another chance.
The Hotspur Way phenom has been in and out of the first team this season, in part down to illness, and while he hasn’t necessarily blown people away, his performances have demonstrated that he has an enormous amount of talent.
However, those who follow junior football would have already been well aware of that fact, as in just 34 appearances for Tottenham’s various youth sides, the “future superstar,” as dubbed by analyst Ben Mattinson, has scored 21 goals and provided 15 assists.
Mikey Moore’s youth record
Team
U18s
U21s
UEFA Youth League
Games
24
5
5
Goals
19
2
0
Assists
13
2
0
Goal Involvements per match
1.33
0.80
0.00
All Stats via Transfermarkt
That means the youngster is averaging 1.05 goal involvements every game in the academy, making the decision to hand him more first-team game time earlier this season a no-brainer.
With that said, he has still managed to rack up three goal involvements in 632 senior minutes this season.
Moreover, he doesn’t need to score or assist to have an impact, as his most impressive performance came against AZ Alkmaar earlier in the campaign, when he was exciting and dangerous enough for teammate James Maddison to describe him as “fearless” and compare him to Neymar Jr.
It’s this track record and the potential he possesses that should see him start ahead of Son today, as, unlike the South Korean, he is the future of this Tottenham team, and the sooner he is a regular starter, the sooner the club can start to build around him and progress.
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The exciting talent could be a game-changer for Spurs.