Son Heung-min was the last player off the field in the first half at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium; He had to remain bent over in the Newcastle penalty box with his hands on his knees for about thirty seconds, not because he was busy pumping the badge on his chest, heckling the crowd or scolding the referee behind his hand, but because he was exhausted.
Two minutes before half-time, Son picked up the ball 15 yards from his own half and tapped the starters, his feet hitting the turf like a boxer hitting a fastball. It is truly rare to see a footballer, with the ball at his feet, dribbling faster and further away from his pursuers, faster than you can run.
Relating to: Richarlison doubles as Tottenham revolts against upset Newcastle
It was a good move by Lewis Miley but Son went further, took the ball 40 yards and made a side pass to narrowly deny Richarlison a goal. At that point Spurs were leading 2-0. Son had left them both open on the left wing, traumatizing Kieran Trippier throughout a lung-burning first half.
Fast forward to the 83rd minute and the hyper-mobile No. 1 with Son racing through the centre. 9 was seen reprising his role. Martin Dubravka knocked him down. Son spotted the ball and sent the penalty kick into the corner, making the score 4-0 in a match where Spurs would have lost 4-1.
It is useful to focus on the numbers. His son is now 31 and in his ninth year with the Spurs. That goal made him ten plus four assists in the league this season. He is approaching 400 caps, more than any non-English outfield player in the club’s history except Chris Hughton. This is now an era.
Son had been unusually outspoken after West Ham’s defeat, highlighting the failure of Spurs’ attack to take the score home. And while Spurs finished the game with 23 shots to Newcastle’s eight, there was an anger, a relentlessness and a desire to keep going in their performance here.
There were mitigating factors for the visitors; The most important thing was that the whole team was standing. However, Son’s use as an orthodox left winger was also important; This change of shape helped open the game at that crucial period of the first half.
This is one of the aspects of modern systems play that has been somewhat lost. A winger’s full-back may have his back turned, but when a more old-school approach would be to get the ball that way as often as possible and open up the weak spot, teams will instead stick to their prepared patterns.
Twenty minutes may pass before another opportunity arises to take home the advantage. Full backs are rarely roasted. But Trippier got angry here when Ange Postecoglou started Dejan Kulusevski as a central attacking midfielder and pinned Son down the left touchline.
The stadium was a welcome spectacle at kick-off, with an inky black sky above the vast industrial lattice roof, the golden rooster dramatically backlit Batman-style over the infield.
Spurs made all the early runs and scored with 26 minutes left, Son’s goal came wide of the left wing line, he flicked a shot to the right then left and then a perfect pass into the six yard area and naturally Destiny Udogie is the world’s lowest scorer happened. The full-back-like full-back was lurking to score his first Spurs goal.
Son also scored the second, unleashing a long diagonal pass that grazed Trippier’s head, clawing from side to side, waiting for Trippier to lose his footing, then diving inside and flicking the ball back for Richarlison to finish.
Newcastle changed the flow after half-time. Miley and Trippier were much more aggressive in approaching Son and closed down the gaps he found in the first half. Still Spurs refused to take the air out of the game and rushed forward as soon as they gained possession of the ball.
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At one point, Jamal Lascelles received a yellow card for grabbing the back of Son’s shirt with one hand and thundered near Son’s center circle, skating from behind like Marty McFly on a hoverboard ride. Minutes later the score was 3-0, the goal was scored by Pedro Porro’s diagonal pass and Richarlison finished.
The victory leaves Spurs in fifth place, which seems pretty accurate. More importantly, it completely stops a terrible run. There is already some degree of Anger, a backlash against love and the Spurs dynamic like Woodstock. Nobody really likes a cute guy in football anyway. Where exactly does this guy land, doesn’t he look tortured or angry?
However, according to Postecoglou, the performance here was also based on a slight tactical shift; It’s a moment that reflects well on a coach who, let’s not forget, is operating at a level beyond anything else in his career to date.
The Premier League is a dizzyingly competitive place these days. Are you really running towards this danger, refusing to step back, or might even step back be a pretty good idea? The most encouraging part of this win, just like at the Etihad, will be the sense of resilience.