Son crowned 'King of the Match' for 8th time this season

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Son crowned 'King of the Match' for 8th time this season

Published: 29 Dec. 2021, 18:04

Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min, left, plays the ball against Southampton's Romain Perraud at St Mary's Stadium in Southampton, England, on Tuesday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Tottenham Hotspur striker Son Heung-min was named "King of the Match" for the eighth time this season, after a sharp performance that held Southampton to a 1-1 draw on Tuesday.

Despite missing out on a goal that would have become a personal record of scoring in five consecutive matches, Son received 46.5 percent of fan votes after the Southampton match, way ahead of the Southampton goal keeper Fraser Forster who received 21.5 percent. This is the eighth time this season Son has been crowned king, and now has the second-most titles in the Premier League, one short of Liverpool's Mohamed Salah.

Son Heung-min was crowned "King of the Match" following the match between Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur at St Mary's Stadium in Southampton, England, on Tuesday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Tottenham’s Tuesday trip to Southampton was largely unproductive. The London club had 21 shots, 11 of them on target, a 66 percent ball possession rate and a higher pass accuracy than their opponent. The team mostly lead the match but could not break through until the very end.

Their lackluster performance mainly stems from the fact that two plausible goals were disallowed and, even with a one-man advantage for more than 50 minutes, they could not figure out the opponent.

Southampton opened the scoring in the 25th minute with Mohammed Salisu’s long-throw into the Spurs box causing havoc and teammate James Ward-Prowse sending the ball to the back of the net.

Both sides stayed quiet until the 40th minute when Son drew a penalty against Salisu. Son glided past Salisu into the Southampton box, but Salisu cut the Spurs striker down and got himself sent off, having been booked once already in the 27th minute after clashing into Emerson Royal of Spurs.

Harry Kane converted the penalty, confidently scoring the equalizer into the top left corner of the net.

That penalty turned out to be the only real chance Spurs had at scoring as both teams were ultimately unable to break the tie, causing more frustration for the Spurs who had seen the ball go into the net twice more but were disallowed.

In the 53rd minute, Kane was the one to convert Harry Winks’ pass but was given an offside after a VAR review that revealed Kane was level with Southampton’s Jan Bednarek and could have gone both ways.

Tottenham’s second unfortunate ball came in the 67th minute when Southampton goalkeeper Fraser Forster collected a cross but dropped the ball into his own net after colliding with Spurs’ Matt Doherty. Doherty’s collision with the goalie was ruled illegal and the goal was disallowed.

Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min applauds fans after the match between Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur at St Mary's Stadium in Southampton, England, on Tuesday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Despite the lackluster performance on Tuesday that ended in a 1-1 tie with Southampton, Tottenham are on an undefeated run of seven matches, with four wins and three draws, and stand in sixth place.

“I think that we can do much better and move the ball more quickly,” Conte said after the match.

Conte pointed out that Tottenham had to face Southampton just two days after clinching a 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Sunday, where Son scored the third goal.

“For this reason, we sometimes did not make good decisions in the last pass, to finish,” Conte said. “In the second half we felt fatigue, and our mind wasn’t clear to make the best decision. We can do much better.”

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]