Son Heung-min is widely regarded as the most underrated player in the Premier League. With 21 goals and nine assists for club and country this season, its not difficult to understand why. Standing at 6 feet tall, the South Korean possesses electric pace, an incredibly direct dribbling style, and the ability to finish with either foot to an equal level of precision.
The Tottenham man is incredibly versatile. Whilst primarily a left-winger who can either cut inside to shoot or run the line, he can play behind the striker as a shadow-striker, as a poacher up top, or in a similar style on the opposite flank. This allows him to be tactically versatile such a rare and important characteristic allowing him to be the main pawn to his managers game plan, with his versatility opening more options if the change is required.
In this individual tactical analysis, well discover what makes Son so unique, why hes scoring so many goals, and winning his side games without their star man Harry Kane.
A direct dribbler
There are three main types of dribbling styles. Technical dribblers who are your Lionel Messi-type players, press-resistant players such as the ex-Spurs behemoth Moussa Dembélé and finally, your direct dribblers. Son Heung-min is a perfect example of the latter.
This style is exactly as described. The player wastes no time in holding onto the ball or performing unnecessary skill moves. Instead, they will look to burst forwards goal to cause a goal threat and create havoc by accelerating up the pitch at a high speed, something that Cristiano Ronaldo excels at.
The image above underlines Sons incredible football IQ. Everyone knows that Manchester Citys full-backs love to come narrow to overload the central areas. Son also knows that if he can attract the three players nearby towards him, hell have miles of space to burst into and Son does possess incredible sprint speed. He quickly feints towards İlkay Gündoğan to draw the German in before quickly moving the ball towards Zinchenko to force the young full-back to a narrow area.
After this intelligent manipulation of space, Son now has miles of space to run into. We should also note that four players are being sucked towards the ball, allowing John Stones to be left one-on-one with Lucas Moura. Whilst Stones is a good defender, the agility and sheer speed of Moura is enough to make it a mismatch.
The two images paint a picture of what a direct dribbler
Subscribe To TFA To Unlock All Posts - Free 7 Day Trial
Try TFA Free For 7 Days
Gain access to all of TFA's premium contents.More than 12,000+ articles.
