Tottenham Hotspur named Son Heung-min captain for a reason. Son impressed fans by prioritizing his teammates during a difficult time.
Tottenham came from behind to win 2-1 against Sheffield United in the fifth round of the 2023/24 Premier League at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, on Saturday (Aug. 16). With the win, Tottenham (13 points) extended its unbeaten run through four rounds of league play and earned its fourth straight league victory. They also remained in second place in the league standings.
Sheffield, on the other hand, failed to win any of their five league matches, leaving them with just one point. They remain in 17th place in the league and remain under threat of relegation.
Postecoglou opted for Son Heung-min as his central striker. With a hat-trick against Burnley last time out, it was a no-brainer for Son to start up front in place of Heung-min. I chose Manor Solomon and Dejan Kulusevski as my two wingers. The trio combined in the last game away to Burnley, and it’s the second consecutive game they’ve started up front.
After a fierce first 45 minutes, neither side could find the back of the net and the game went into halftime 0-0. After the second half began, Tottenham continued to push forward in an attempt to find the back of the net, but it was Sheffield who found the Tottenham net on a set piece and eventually took the lead.
In the 29th minute, from a corner kick, the ball trickled past the defense and into the back of the net, where midfielder Gustavo Hamer was able to slide in a low, quick shot that rattled the Tottenham net. It was an early goal that made Tottenham even more impatient as they continued to press Sheffield in search of a goal.
After the goal, Tottenham continued to push up the line and attacked harder to make up for the deficit. In the 35th minute, Tottenham made a change to their attacking lineup, bringing on Son Heung-min, Pape Sarr, and Manor Solomon for Brennan Johnson, Hicharlison, and Ivan Perisic. Johnson, who joined Tottenham in the summer transfer window, came off the bench against Sheffield and made his Tottenham debut.
Johnson could have been Tottenham’s savior, rattling the post on his debut, but he was ruled offside. In the 42nd minute, Johnson rattled the Sheffield goal after breaking in from the right side of the penalty area with his hands up and latching onto Bissouma’s pass in front of goal. However, the goal was disallowed for offside as the assistant referee raised his flag after seeing Johnson in a position ahead of the defense.
The game continued for a considerable amount of time after the 45th minute. A whopping 12 minutes of extra time was awarded to reflect the number of Sheffield players sitting down with injuries. Tottenham brought on Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Emerson Royale for Van der Vaart and Foro in an attempt to push their opponents further in the extra time.
Tottenham’s saving grace in the dying minutes came in the form of Hicharlison and Kulusevski. The latter rattled the Sheffield goal with a precise header from a corner in stoppage time. Tottenham continued to push Sheffield forward in search of an equalizer. Three minutes after the equalizer, Kuluczewski sent the stadium into a frenzy with a sharp right-footed shot into the corner of the Sheffield goal from inside the penalty box.
Sheffield then lost all momentum when frontline striker Oliver McBurnie was sent off, and the game ended in a dramatic 2-1 victory for Tottenham.
The come-from-behind win sent Tottenham fans into a frenzy. First, they scored two goals in second-half stoppage time to turn the game around and extend their unbeaten streak to four league wins and five league games since the start of the season. To date, only three teams remain unbeaten through five rounds of league play, including defending champions Manchester City (five wins) and Liverpool (four wins and a draw). Tottenham’s biggest rivals Arsenal (3 wins, 1 draw) will join them if they don’t lose their fifth round match against Everton on May 18.
Meanwhile, after the game, Tottenham fans were full of praise for Son Heung-min’s leadership. After the monumental come-from-behind victory, the Spurs players approached the stands to thank the home fans for their support throughout the game.
Initially, the Tottenham players lined up and held hands to run to the stands together, but Son Heung-min pushed the equalizer’s back and sent him to the front. It was a gesture that allowed him to monopolize the cheers of the fans.
The reason for Son’s gesture was that it was the first goal in a long time for the Frenchman, who has been going through a difficult time on and off the field lately. After signing from Everton for a record £60 million last summer, the Frenchman struggled in his debut season in 2022/23, scoring just three goals and providing four assists in all competitions. In the league, he scored just one goal in 27 appearances.
This season, after starting the opening three league games as a frontline striker, he was silent. His place in the starting lineup was eventually jeopardized in the fourth round of the league against Burnley, when he made way for Son Heung-min, who scored a hat-trick in a 5-2 win.
His struggles with the club continued with the national team. Called up to the Brazil national team for the September A-match period, he started both games of the Bolivia-Peru doubleheader, the first and second rounds of South American qualifying for the 2026 North and Central American World Cup, but once again failed to register an attacking point.
After finishing the September A-match period without a goal despite being the main striker for the world’s soccer powerhouse, the player raised eyebrows when he revealed that he was planning to see a psychologist in order to change the situation.
“The moment I was sad against Bolivia wasn’t because I wasn’t playing well,” he told the media after the Peru game, “I think it wasn’t because I had a bad game against Bolivia, it was an outburst about things that were happening off the field, things that were out of my control, not because of me, but because of people close to me.”
“I’m going back to England to see a psychologist to get some psychological help,” he said, “and then I’ll come back stronger. I believe I will be in the next Brazilian national team. I’m going to work for it,” he added.
“It’s important to have a good winning streak at Tottenham,” he said, “and I’ll talk to my teammates this week and try to get a good flow and rhythm, so I can adapt.” “On the pitch, I’m a happy team player,” he added.
“On the pitch, I’m a happy team player. I try to help as much as I can, but sometimes things don’t go the way we want them to,” he said. “I think it’s the off-field aspects that have been holding me back. You want to do things right, but they end up going wrong. I will continue to focus on the club. The storm has passed,” he said.
He added: “I’ve had a turbulent time off the pitch in the last five months. Everything is back to normal now,” he said, adding: “All the people who were only interested in my money have left me. I’m sure things will go back to normal now and I’ll get a great opportunity at Tottenham and make things good again.”
His claims of struggling with poor performances and people wanting his money resonated with fans, so when he scored a goal that could signal a resurgence at a crucial moment, fans and teammates alike celebrated.
Son Heung-min was well aware of the situation, and as the team’s captain, he made sure to monopolize the cheers of the fans to help him gain more confidence. Fans who saw this scene all gave Son a thumbs up to show their admiration for his leadership.
According to the American community Reddit, fans who watched the video of Son pushing the Frenchman’s back said, “A true captain,” “So touching,” “Son is one of the best captains in the league,” and “Son should have been captain years ago.”
After scoring three goals in the previous game against Burnley, Son was just three goals away from his 200th European goal, but he was unable to reach the milestone and was substituted in the second half. However, he showed why Tottenham made him captain of the team by attempting to make him the man of the match.바카라사이트
After the game, Son took to social media to say, “The supporters helped us get over the line today,” adding, “It was a great mental strength and boy’s fight. Let’s go Spurs!!!”, giving credit to the fans for the come-from-behind win over Sheffield Wednesday. Under Son’s leadership, Tottenham have made their best start to a season since the start of the campaign, with four wins and a draw from five league games, and many are already looking forward to seeing what their report card will look like at the end of the season.