WELL TON, MY SON!
Mourinho hails man-of-the-match Heung-min as he becomes Spurs centurion
HEUNG-MIN SON became Heung-min Ton as his 100th goal for Tottenham helped lift them up to third.
The South Korean tucked home a lovely finish to complete his century with his 65th effort in the Premier League.
And with strikes either side from Harry Kane – from a penalty – and Toby Alderweireld – aided in no small part by two howlers from Leeds keeper Illan Meslier – Spurs were able to pick off their visitors with relative ease to move back into the Champions League places.
Son said: “I’m very happy and very grateful to my team-mates, who have always supported me.
“It’s not coming from me alone, I’ve needed a lot of help.
“The most important thing here is the clean sheet and the three goals.
“To score 100 goals with one team is a big thing. I’m very proud and very grateful.”
Much of the help that comes Son’s way is from Harry Kane and the cross he supplied for his pal to finish here was exquisite.
Kane moved away from Pascal Struijk with ease before providing a perfectly weighted ball from which Son steered home his 12th Premier
League goal of the season. Only Liverpool’s Mo Salah, with 13, has more.
For Kane, it was an 11th assist, while the spot-kick with which he had already given Tottenham the lead was his 10th goal of the campaign.
And when Alderweireld made it three, Sonny turned provider, sending over the corner from which he sealed the victory.
Meslier was at fault for two of them.
First, his poor clearance went straight to Harry Winks, who in turn fed Steve Bergwijn.
The Dutchman was fouled by Ezgjan Alioski and referee David Coote pointed straight to the spot for Kane to do the rest. Alderweireld’s
That movement of Harry Kane appearing on the right and Sonny in the finishing position fit well for our game plan.
goal was then fumbled over the line by the French keeper when a clean take down to his left would have kept it out.
Boss Marcelo Bielsa refused to condemn him, though.
“It was an undeniable error, but you look back at all of our games and how efficient Illan has been with his feet and compare him to the efficiency of the other keepers." said the Leeds manager.
“Making a relationship between
the amount of passes and the errors, if the keeper receives a ball and kicks it long into the opponents’ half, he can’t make an error.” Of the game overall, Bielsa added: “We created 10 chances and didn’t score and our opponents created 12 and scored three. “The fundamental difference was their efficiency.” Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho felt his side could have been even more efficient. He said: “It was very important to win. The run of results lately was not good. “But we could have scored more goals. We had good opportunities to score and not just from the traditional Sonny and Kane.
“We had good scoring opportunities, good shooting positions… Pierre-emile Hojbjerg, Tanguy Ndombele, Steve Bergwijn twice and that pleases me also because we want to play with this kind of dynamic.
“The run of results in the last few weeks was not good, so we needed these points.”
What a strange season it is when a team’s first win in almost a month can lift them to third.
And how odd it is that, with two such prolific forwards, it was their first win since early December.
Mourinho added: “They are very good players, as you know, for many years. “The understanding is good. “Against Leeds, it was important to have mobility in attack. They mark man-for-man, so if you stand still, you give them an easy job.
“That movement of Kane appearing on the right – and Sonny in the finishing position – fit well for our game plan.”
Leeds did well for large periods of the game, but Spurs, who had full-back Matt Doherty sent off late on for a second bookable offence, did a professional job on them.
And, not for the first time this season, Mourinho showed he still knows how to give football’s most feted bosses a bloody nose.