Tottenham Hotspur faced AS Roma in the Europa League and were held to a 2-2 draw.
Spurs went into the game against Claudio Ranieri’s side as the favourites. Their win against Manchester City must have given them a lot of confidence, and many people expected an easy win over the Italians at home.
Heung-min Son opened the scoring for Tottenham from the penalty spot, but Roma equalised through Evan Ndicka.
Brennan Johnson gave them the lead again and that seemed like it would be enough for the win. However, Mats Hummels stepped up in the first minute of second-half stoppage time to secure a point for his side.
The Italian press have now had their say on Son’s performance on Thursday night.
Italy’s media deliver verdict on Heung-min Son after Tottenham vs AS Roma
Son has had a difficult season at Tottenham so far.
The South Korean is Spurs’ best player. On his day, he is capable of winning games on his own – he has done that on many occasions over the years.
However, the Tottenham skipper has had a couple of injury issues to deal with, and that has had an impact on his output.
Son has scored just four goals in all competitions this season in 13 games. That is very unlike him, and his performance against Roma summed up his campaign.
The 32-year-old converted his penalty brilliantly and was a threat every time he had the ball in Roma’s defensive third. But, he missed a great chance to score too.
That is the reason why he has received mixed reviews from the Italian media.
Eurosport in Italy gave Son a 7/10 rating and said: “Ready-go and he immediately scores with a perfect penalty. Delightful in practically everything he does, he even comes close to scoring a double, but Svilar tells him no.
“Half a vote less for the goal that was spectacularly missed in the first half.”
Virgilio Sport rated him 6.5/10 and wrote: “He’s not having his best season, but he’s ice-cold from the spot. And two minutes into the match, it wasn’t a given at all. The final judgment is weighed by the goal devoured by a few steps.”
Numero Diez gave him a 7/10 rating and said: “He unlocks the match with a penalty goal. He devours the chance to make it 3-1 but is a constant danger to Roma’s defence.”
Postecoglou thinks he knows why Son isn’t firing this season
Tottenham fans always expect big things from Son, and it was no different at the start of this season.
The Korean scored a brace in the second game of the campaign against Everton, and everyone expected him to go on a good goalscoring run from that point.
However, Son has scored just twice in all competitions since, which is not great at all. He is Tottenham’s best player and you would expect him to be their top scorer.
After the game against Roma, Ange Postecoglou was asked if he thinks Son is lacking confidence in front of goal. The Spurs boss disagreed.
He said, as per Football London: “I don’t know if he’s lacking confidence. Sonny’s had a disrupted year for us, so that doesn’t help. Yeah, he had some good chances tonight to get the goal and he’s getting in those areas.
“Look, he’s got the quality to take those chances and we know he’s done it consistently for almost a decade, but he’s had a disrupted season being in and out. You can see he is getting back to full fitness now, which is the main thing for us.”