Heung Son-Min has become somewhat of a phenomenon under the watchful eye of Jose Mourinho, amassing some 10 goals and eight assists working with the Portuguese.
So what’s the secret? Well, Sonny is a highly talented player anyway, we knew that, but Jose has not been afraid to direct the South Korean a little more acutely than Pochettino did, keeping him away from central positions*.
*A notable exception to this was in the North London Derby, but generally, the guideline for Son is the further forward you go, then stay left, or stay right, but leave the central areas primarily for Kane to operate through. Mourinho has only played Sonny as an out and out CF on two occasions.
Nothing has been more frustrating in the past, then watching Son, Lucas and Kane all scrambling in the same space, frequently achieving less than desirable results.
Mourinho’s ideal position for Sonny is Left Attacking Midfield, where historically he’s scored most goals and made most assists.
Newcastle was frequently a tough watch, but this is very Mourinho steadying his ship. Sid James Park has been a black spot for us in the past, and the gaffer himself had never won there.
heung min-son shots vs newcastle #COYS pic.twitter.com/xnhWNvKstx
— TheBoyHotspur (@TheBoyHotspur) July 16, 2020
It’s why city and liverpool dispatch such a high proportion of their chances on the break; while so many of ours end up being dribbled into the shins of defenders or passed behind teammates.
Interesting, as I just read an article on the coaching techniques of Mourinho compared to Guardiola and Klopp. The gist of it was Jose puts most of his effort into organising the defence, the forwards he leaves to themselves trusting their skill and intuition to find their own space. The other two are much more rigid in their positioning of their players especially Guardiola. It’s almost as if he choreographs the players every move. Every player has his area and if you stray out of position into someone else’s there will be hell to pay.
Sonny is a real success story for Spurs, we’re lucky to have him.