Son Heung-min says he feels responsible for Antonio Conte’s departure from Tottenham Hotspur
When Antonio Conte ranted after Tottenham Hotspur’s 3-3 Premier League draw against Southampton at St. Mary’s just before the international, he mentioned that the players at Spurs were ‘selfish‘.
He said a whole lot of other things, but that one word came to dominate headlines. It isn’t clear in what sense he meant to call them selfish and if it was meant to be understood in a way that the players only played for themselves, but surely Son wouldn’t have been included in that bracket.
The South Korea international has been anything but selfish on the pitch. In fact, one can even say he passes the ball when he should be scoring in front of goal! The former Bayer Leverkusen man has stayed at Spurs despite his brilliant form in recent years.
When he is on the pitch, he gives it his all. He even plays with a mask if he has to. There is hardly any other player who is the antonym of the word ‘selfish’ as Son.
Son isn’t to blame
The 30-year-old has now come out and claimed that he feels responsible for Conte’s sacking and that he should have played better. He said (h/t the Guardian):
“As a player, I am really sorry. He’s a world-class coach and we had a great journey together … I should have played better. I feel responsible for his departure because I haven’t helped the club all that much.”
It’s a funny thing. Had he not said this, and despite his brilliant rapport with the fanbase, many wouldn’t have hesitated to point their fingers at Son’s record of scoring in just four out of the 26 league games this season as one of the reasons for our apparent downfall.
Now that he has come out and said it, fans would want to make it clear that there were in fact other players who performed worse than him at Spurs and that a purple patch such as this one is something Son can be excused for after his consistent displays in recent seasons.
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Even if Son kept scoring and winning us games, Conte and Tottenham just didn’t seem like the right fit from day 1. The former Chelsea manager just never seemed like he thought Spurs were at his level. He’s gone now and there is absolutely no point looking back. Time to get a new manager who understands the club and makes himself a part of the journey rather than coming in as a short-term fix.
