Son Heung-min gets 50th assist as Antonio Conte rails against 'unacceptable' Tottenham

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Son Heung-min gets 50th assist as Antonio Conte rails against 'unacceptable' Tottenham

Published: 19 Mar. 2023, 07:31 Updated: 19 Mar. 2023, 17:23

Tottenham's Son Heung-min, right, and Southampton's Romeo Lavia, center, compete for the ball during a Premier League match at St Mary's Stadium in Southampton, England on Saturday. [AP/YONHAP]

Son Heung-min picked up his 50th Premier League assist on Saturday on what was otherwise a disappointing day for Tottenham Hotspur, throwing away a two-goal lead to draw 3-3 with Southampton.

After a goalless 45 minutes at St. Mary’s Stadium in Southampton — although with four injuries it wasn’t one without drama — Spurs finally broke through in injury time when Son cut a pass into the penalty box for Pedro Porro to fire home.

Southampton equalized one minute after the break, with Harry Kane heading in a goal 20 minutes later to put the visitors up 2-1.

Ivan Perisic put Tottenham up 3-1 in the 74th minute and the lead seemed unassailable, only for Theo Walcott to make it 3-2 three minutes later and James Ward-Prowse to tie things up in injury time.

The Porro assist was Son’s 50th in the league, leaving him with a career total of 99 goals and 50 assists and making him the first Asian player to break 50 assists in the Premier League. It also takes him wonderfully close to breaking an even 100-50 split in the next few weeks.

But Son’s personal success was one bright spot on an otherwise dismally disappointing night for Tottenham.

The draw was such a rough result for Spurs that manager Antonio Conte publicly railed against his own players, calling the result unacceptable and his squad selfish.

“For me this is unacceptable,” Conte said. “We are winning 3-1, in control and concede two goals.

“I think it’s better to go into the problem, we are not a team. We are 11 players that go into the pitch. I see selfish players, players that don’t want to help each other and don’t put their heart [into it]. This season compared to last, now we are worse in this aspect. When you are not a team you cannot improve.”

Conte, who may well be coming to the end of his Tottenham tenure, then rounded on the club itself.

“They don’t play for something important, yeah. They don’t want to play under pressure, they don’t want to play under stress.

“It is easy in this way. Tottenham’s story is this, 20 years there is the owner and they never won something but why? The fault is only for the club, or for every manager that stay here. I have seen the managers that Tottenham had on the bench. You risk to disrupt the figure of the manager and to protect the other situation in every moment. Until now I try to hide the situation but now, no, because I repeat I don’t want to see what I have seen today.”

Conte’s unusually frank comments come amid rumors that he is likely to part ways with the London club at the end of the season, if not before.

Tottenham have won three of their last five League games, losing one and drawing on Saturday. While those are not particularly terrible results, the club has also crashed out of both the FA Cup and the Champions League in the last few weeks, leaving them with no shot at any silverware again this year.

Saturday’s result also sees Spurs perilously close to dropping out of the top four with 10 games still to go this season. They currently have 49 points with 28 games played, just two goals above Newcastle, who have two games in hand.

Whether Conte will be around for those last few games remains to be seen. Saturday’s press conference sounded a lot like the words of a man who has nothing left to lose, and with the international break starting today the club may feel it has some room to change things around before games resume on April 3.

Conte’s parting shot on Saturday certainly suggested he expects that fate.

“They can change the manager, a lot of managers, but the situation cannot change. Believe me.”

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]