His Heung-min is an indispensable cog in the Tottenham machine and the perfect pupil of Pochettino

His Heung-min will never be the star of this Tottenham team. Harry Kane, the omnipresence of Dele Alli in the media and Christian Eriksen's golden suitors are not known by that name. Other players are better known, better paid, better covered, simply considered more important for Mauricio Pochettino's Spurs.

It may be because of Son's personality, his humility or his nationality: the fact that the internationals of England play for an English team will always make more headlines than anyone.

But watching the Spurs this season, is to realize that Its has an attacking importance equal to that of others. No one else does the shopping that he does. Nobody is almost as fast as him. Only Harry Kane can match his clinical effectiveness in front of the goal. There have been times when Son felt like an alternative, an option, a wild card for Spurs. Now, he is an indispensable part of the machine, a perfect pupil of the Pochettino who executes his instructions as well as anyone else. That was true when His Sound destroyed Chelsea here in November, when he was leading the charge at Goodison Park or during the evisceration of Bournemouth on Boxing Day.

But this has never been as true as this week, when Son returned from the disappointing disappointment of the Asian Cup to win two games for the Spurs. He was scheduled to play the final in Abu Dhabi on Friday, but South Korea lost their quarter-final against Qatar last week. Then Son flew right and trained at Enfield the next day. He had to do it only three days before Pochettino started his match against Watford, when he gave 90 minutes to score the crucial tying goal.

After that game, Pochettino said that he did not know if His could play Saturday against Newcastle, but he did pbad his fitness test, which impressed the medical and scientific staff of the sport. And he was also good against Newcastle, running and running and running and finally running with his powerful shot of less than eight minutes.

If Son had not brought the United Arab Emirates over last weekend, one wonders if the Spurs would have won one or the other of those matches. But they won both and are still in the title race. Pochettino then talked about His after the fact, and two things came out.

The first was the physical energy of Son, the will to continue running as long as his body allowed him. It would not have been easy to return to competition after returning from the Asian Cup, but he did. Pochettino said that he was an example for everyone.

"He works so hard, he always pushes, he never gives up. He will try to try to try to try. He is like in his effort with and without the ball, he is very regular and constant and it is the most important. "

Pochettino compared it to a battery that worked and worked until it was empty. "Sonny, it's like when you have a battery, you work, work, work, then the battery is exhausted. He is like that, he gives you everything and when he is exhausted, he says, "I need to change" or to rest. He's like that. Always on the field, he plays 100% in every action without or without a ball. This is the most important thing, it's a very good example for everyone, watching it play. "

But if football was to run, the teams would engage runners. The point on the son is the intelligence that directs his energy. Defensive defense to stop the opposition. Incisor works in possession. Anticipation runs the ball. Able to follow Pochettino's game book, or guess when he has to do it. That is why he is now so important to this team because it is the game plan in action on the ground.

"Of course, after the first season, he understood what we expected from him. If you see him now, he is one of the players who constantly moves on the field, seeking the best position in defensive and offensive situations. Always give options to his teammates, run forwards, then drop off the second line. He is a very complete player today and we are very happy with his performance. "

Sometimes in football, it is badumed that the distance traveled is proof of a hard-working player. But the reality is that the most fit people can run 12 km or 13 km in 90 minutes if they have to. The goal of Son is the ability to sprint again and again, to make the tracks smart, difficult and thankless, and to repeat over and over again and again and again until everything ends. That's what it means to take responsibility, and that's where humility and leadership come together. Because with Son, there is nobody to do the hard work like him.

"It's not the distance, but the quality of the race," explained Pochettino. "You can run 12 km, but if you do not have sprints or beat your opponent, it will depend on how you run, it will not affect the game. The most important thing is how you run and how you affect the game, as well as its ability and quality. It's not a question of distance. It's like you're saying that Messi was running a lot. No, but in the distance, he applied the pace or how powerful he was in the moment that made the difference. Sonny is similar, the quality is excellent because he has a lot of quality in his movements. "

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