Tottenham, battling for fourth place in the English Professional Soccer Premier League (EPL) and a spot in next season’s UEFA Champions League, slipped to fifth place in the table.
It was Son Heung-min’s slowest performance of the season, leaving him one goal and 10 assists shy of his third 10-goal, 10-assist campaign.
Son started and played 58 minutes of the 2023-2024 EPL Round 33 match against Newcastle United at St. James’ Park in Newcastle, England, at 8:30 p.m. ET on Sept. 13, including 13 minutes in the second half.
Tottenham’s defense collapsed in a 0-4 thrashing.
Up front, Son Heung-min struggled against Newcastle’s cooperative defense. Despite Tottenham’s high ball possession, Heung-min was often isolated up front and struggled to hold onto the ball. His touch on the ball was also more erratic than usual.
He didn’t register a single shot on goal. In fact, he lost the ball in the process of attacking, which led to the goal. Newcastle’s counter-attacks were well organized.
After failing to impress, Son was substituted for Dejan Kulusebski in the 13th minute of the second half when the score was 0-3. It was the first time Son has started and been subbed off before the 60th minute this season.
Son, who has 15 goals and nine assists in the league, needs just one more assist to reach 10 goals and 10 assists for the third time in his career, but it was his slowest performance of the season in front of the standbys.
The ratings have been harsh.
European soccer statistician Fúscore.com gave Son a 5.9 rating. It’s the lowest rating in the attacking lineup, along with Timo Werner (5.9).
Footmob also gave him a 6.4. Werner (6.4) and Brennan Johnson (6.1) were the worst-rated players in the offense. Sofascore gave him a 6.8.
The Spurs finished fourth, just outside the UEFA Champions League qualification cutoff for next season, and lost fourth place to Aston Villa by four goals.
With 18 wins, 6 draws, and 8 losses (60 points), Tottenham 스포츠토토 and Aston Villa have the same number of points, but Aston Villa’s +17 goal differential puts them in fourth place, ahead of Tottenham (+16).
Spurs dominated the ball possession 73%-27%, but were not at all efficient. They were out-shot 11-18.
Newcastle scored four goals on five shots on target, an impressive result.
Spurs have bitter memories of their 1-6 defeat at Newcastle last season. The ‘Newcastle away nightmare’ came back to haunt them as they went down 0-4 in what was a key watershed game in the title race.