Winners of the Premier League monthly awards have been susceptible to poor form immediately after receiving the award. The latest recipient of the curse seems to be Tottenham’s Son Heung-Min. The South Korean international was named as the league’s best player for the month of September. He had been in flying colours back then after managing to perform in an impressive manner against the likes of Stoke City and Manchester City. Son Heung-Min produced a man of the match performance against Manchester City to help Spurs register a 2-0 win.
Incidentally, it is also the last game Spurs managed to win in any competition. Son Heung-Min also has struggled to replicate his form since winning the award. The game against Manchester City was immediately followed by an international break and Son Heung-Min was part of the South Korean team that took on Qatar and Iran in World Cup 2018 qualifying games.
Son has not been the same player since that international break. He produced a few moments of magic against Arsenal, but they were almost negligible in comparison with the impact he had against City. The 24-year-old has now revealed the reasons for his struggles, and he says that an ankle injury has been bothering him for almost a month. According to ESPN, he said:
“It’s true that I’ve struggled after winning the award because of an ankle injury. But it’s not just me; the whole team is having a difficult time. With the national team, your strong mindset matters more than your form. I came here to win.”
It is common for players to play through the pain barrier in order to retain their first-team spot. Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp recently criticised Daniel Sturridge for waiting to be 100% before being made available for a game. Manchester United boss José Mourinho also came in with a similar criticism of defenders Chris Smalling and Luke Shaw after they recently pulled out of the game against Swansea City.
In such a day and age, the commitment from Son is excellent if he is truly suffering from the injury. Spurs have a number of players on the sidelines and the latest additions are Danny Rose and Ben Davies. Mauricio Pochettino’s training methods and the high-intensity tactics are seen as the primary reasons for a number of players to go down injured in the last few weeks.
After extended absence, Harry Kane just returned from an ankle injury. He was forced to miss the club’s last eight matches and it is also not a coincidence that Spurs’ have been averaging around the 0.5 goals per game since the last international break. Immediately upon his return, Kane managed to get on the scoresheet with a crucial equaliser in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal on Sunday.
Son, meanwhile, Son will be hoping to comeback from the latest round of international games in the best possible condition. The 24-year-old has four goals in eight league appearances, but he has not scored since September.
