"Make the home crowd angry"+"Having the stadium hovering"…Son Heung-min's lowest rating in the team → Tottenham defeated Arsenal and North London derby 0-1. Captain Son Heung-min couldn't lift his head either. Along with his poor performance, he failed to prevent Tottenham's defeat and was criticized.
Tottenham lost 0-1 to Arsenal in the fourth round of the English Premier League (EPL) in the 2024-2025 season at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on the 15th.
Tottenham, the home team, played a 4-3-3 formation. Son Heung-min, Dominic Solanke and Brennan Johnson are on the front line, while James Maddison, Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski worked together in the midfield. The defense was made up of Destiny Udogi, Mickey van der Pen, Christian Romero and Pedro Porro. The goal was guarded by Guglielmo Vicario.
The away team Arsenal faced off with a 4-2-3-1 formation. Leandro Trossar is on the front line, and Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka are on the second line. Thomas Partey and Jorginho are on the third line. The four-back was built by Wirien Timber, Gabrieu Magalyangis, William Saliba and Ben White. David Raya wore goalie gloves.
For Tottenham, it was a great opportunity to catch Arsenal at home. Both teams were in need of a rebound after slowing down in the previous match, but unlike Tottenham, which was able to form the best lineup except for Yves Bissouma, Arsenal were missing several players due to injury, including captain Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice, Ricardo Calafior, and Oleksandr Zinchenko, which was enough to secure victory for Tottenham.
Tottenham was aiming for an attacking opportunity by pressuring Arsenal from the beginning of the game. In the fifth minute of the first half, Son Heung-min received Solanke's pass and the cutback pass that he attempted deep inside the penalty box was delivered to Kulusevski. Kulusevski immediately tried to shoot but was blocked by Raya's good defense. In the seventh minute of the first half, Solanke finished the cross from the post after the corner kick with his back foot, but Raya fired himself and defended again.
Son Heung-min continued to aim for chances. In the 10th minute of the first half, Son induced a foul near the Arsenal box to win a free kick, and in the 14th minute of the first half, Son Heung-min put pressure on him to pass through the build-up process, and Solanke got a good chance inside the box. However, just before Solanke attempted to shoot, Arsenal's defense blocked it and overcame the crisis.
Arsenal also gradually launched counterattacks. Timber's shot from the left side of the penalty box in the 17th minute was blocked by hitting Romero's leg. Martinelli's cross hit Havertz's head in the center of the box in the 18th minute, but Vicario defended it with a fantastic defense just before the ball crossed the goal line.
There was also Son's sharpness. In the 19th minute of the first half, Son drilled through a drip from the left. However, he failed to finish under pressure from two players quickly in the attack. Vicario's good defense saved Tottenham. In the counterattack in the 19th minute of the first half, Martinelli received a through pass from the right side and advanced into the box in an instant, and immediately attempted a shot. However, the shot was caught by Vicario and failed to make it into the goal.
Tottenham continued to lead the attack. In the 23rd minute, the prisoner crossed directly but was caught by Raya, and in the 26th minute, Udogi broke off the opponent's attack and hit the ground because he could not take advantage of his chance in the box. In the 27th minute, Arsenal gave Tottenham a chance by mistake in the pass, but Kulusevski's advance was blocked by a tackle. In the 28th minute, Solanke's header following Maddison's cross floated high and seemed to be heading for Arsenal's goal, but it went straight out of the goal.
He also lost his chance through counterattack. In the 43rd minute, Johnson grabbed the ball and advanced to take the chance in the box, but Johnson's shot hit Magalangis and went off the goal line. In the first half extra time, Johnson's shot went closer to the stands, not to the Arsenal goal. Both teams finished 0-0 without scoring a goal in the first half.
Tottenham led the game first in the second half. Johnson, who got Solanke's pass, sent the ball to the center of the box in the third minute of the second half, and the ball hit Solanke's head but headed far away from the goal. In the fourth minute of the second half, a corner kick from Madison followed by a header from Panderpen was also easily caught by Raya. Tottenham kept knocking on Arsenal's goal. Kulusevski's cross went over the center of the box in the sixth minute of the first half, but it couldn't reach the player on the other side.
Tottenham's defense also blocked Arsenal's opportunity. In the 12th minute of the second half, Arsenal took the ball from the defense and launched a counterattack, and when Martinelli, who received Havertz's pass, tried to catch the ball in the box, Van der Penn cleared the ball with a quick cover to block the moment of crisis in advance.
Arsenal broke the frustrating 0 trend. Saka's sharp cross from a corner kick in the 19th minute of the second half went straight to Magalyangis in the center of the box. The ball that hit Magalyangis' head hit the top of Tottenham's goal and shook the net. Vicario tried to react, but it was useless because it was a powerful header that hit the right time.
Tottenham, which allowed a point, tried to balance the game again. In the 27th minute of the second half, Wilson Odover led the counterattack and entered the Arsenal box, but the number of attacks was insufficient and the ball was lost without even attempting to shoot.
Tottenham continued to focus on simple attacks and continued to insist on cross attempts. Solanke's multiple crosses to the head were meaningless repetitions of attacks, such as being blocked by Arsenal's defense or headed for unexpected places.
Tottenham didn't give up hope until the end. Kulusevski's mid-range shot from front of the penalty box floated directly above the net and hit the ground in the extra time of the second half. In the ensuing attack, Odover's mid-range shot was also deflected off Timo Werner in the box, sending it out of the goal line, not inside the box.
In the end, Arsenal finished with a 1-0 victory.
Son Heung-min, who started the game on the day, played full-time, recording one shot, one opportunity creation, one pass success rate, two dribbles, five ball possession recoveries, and 60% ball competition. It was not very sluggish, but considering that he only added one shot in the second half, the performance was certainly disappointing. Football statistics media Footmob also gave Son a 7.0 rating, which is the seventh highest rating among the team's starters, but how disappointed Son Heung-min was.
The British media also criticized Son for his poor performance. Football London gave Son a rating of five, the lowest in his team. The ratings were the same as Johnson, Madison, and Romero, who showed poor influence and frustration throughout the game. Football London expressed regret by saying, "He put good pressure on Kulusevski to create an opportunity and to provide Solanke an opportunity. After that, the game was on and around the stadium, and he had difficulty influencing."
The British Evening Standard also gave Son Heung-min five points and said, "He showed a few brilliant moments at the beginning of the game, but it faded. While Tottenham was aiming for the equalizer, it had difficulty in exerting influence." England's 90min gave Johnson, not Son, the lowest score with four points, but Son Heung-min was also not a good rating with five points. 90min pointed out that he walked around the edge of the stadium feeling overwhelmed by White.
England's Give Me Sports pointed out Son Heung-min's slump with 5.5 points, saying, "Son Heung-min, who did not show his best performance, failed to raise Tottenham's poor performance, which angered the home crowd." 메이저사이트
Son Heung-min can't help but recall the story of numerous criticisms and even claims of release after the poor performance against Leicester City in the opening game. After that, he seemed to revive his momentum by scoring multiple goals against Everton, but Son Heung-min was forced to be subject to criticism again as both Newcastle and Arsenal remained silent.
Tottenham recorded its first consecutive defeat of the season in four games, with captain Son Heung-min silent due to a disappointing slump. Attention is focusing on whether both Son Heung-min and Tottenham will be able to rebound from the relatively low-powered teams, including the League Cup match against Coventry City on the 19th and the league match against Brentford on the 21st.