Ange Postecoglou gave Son Heung-min the opportunity to make his debut in 2024, but the decision came to nothing as Tottenham lost 2-1 to Wolves.
Spurs were runners-up as Tottenham Hotspur ended their run of five Premier League wins at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday (17 February).
Joao Gomes scored a couple of goals, with Dejan Kulusevskiy’s temporary equaliser, much to Tottenham’s frustration.
Son in particular struggled, scoring just 56 goals, despite being the central midfielder in the final quarter of the match [Sofascore].
Son Heung-min had a day off for Tottenham:
The versatile striker also missed nine of 47 passes and had a poor 81 per cent passing accuracy.
To put it in perspective, no Spurs player who played the full 90 minutes scored worse.
Son didn’t take a single shot, although Tottenham were chasing a goal for most of the game.
He also only managed one key pass, which is below his season average of 1.8, suggesting he was not at his usual level [WhoScored].
Apart from the attacking side of the game, Son could have done a lot more to prevent Gomes’ opening goal for Wolves in the first half.
The South Korean international failed to keep out a delivery into the box, as pointed out by Perry Groves on talkSPORT.
“Son Heung-min actually dodged the ball – he should have been attacking it,” Groves said [17 February, 15:45].
“The player can’t be free there. It’s really poor play from Tottenham, particularly from Son.”
Richarlison also struggled against Wolves:
Richarlison wasn’t the only one to have a bad day, as Richarlison failed to score in any of his three attempts.
The Brazilian had an expected goals (xG) of 0.43 – only Bentancur had a higher figure (0.47) – but was extremely unsuccessful up top.
Richarlison did not dribble once in 71 minutes on the field and won only two of the five aerial duels.
Spurs have scored in 37 consecutive Premier League games [Opta] – the furthest only Arsenal have managed (55) – but one goal was not enough.
Unfortunately for Postecoglou, it turned out that poor attacks and defences – Son was guilty in both categories – cost him dearly.