WELL TON ,
Mourinho hails man-of-the-match Heung-Min
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 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 wi his feet and compare him t efficiency of the other ke said the Leeds manager.
“Making a relationship be
That movement of Harry Kane appearing on the right and Sonny in the finishing position fit well for our game plan.
LEEDS UNITED should be bigger than reacting to a pundit’s opinions on their Twitter account.
But seeing the rebirth of the club, a hard-earned promotion and the transformative work of Marcelo Bielsa trashed by an ill-informed comment from a match analyst live on TV must have been infuriating.
The classy thing to do would be to roll with the punch delivered by ex-England player Karen Carney.
Better to rise above and revel in Tuesday’s 5-0 against West Brom.
Instead, Leeds sent out a post, with a puzzled face emoji, of Carney (below), claiming they’d only got promoted because of Covid, the recharging break preventing them from blowing up.
It has opened up football’s version of culture wars.
Agree or disagree – I side with Leeds on this because they’d won five in a row before lockdown – Carney has done her job.
She’d raised a disputable, but valid, debating point. She’d stirred opinion. She’d provided a viral clip for the TV company that pay her.
Then gender was brought into play. Had Leeds’ tweet deliberately and knowingly provoked sexist criticism of Carney, leading to a Dark Ages anti-woman pile-on?
Or simply shown equality by giving her the same treatment they dished out to Gabby Agbonlahor previously?
In showing support for Carney, too many veered towards suggesting she shouldn’t be criticised. That to dispute, and dismantle, her opinion, was sexist, or abuse.
That view infantilizes women. Carney is bright enough to cope with folk respectfully disagreeing.
If a female pundit makes a claim they can’t back up in fact, there’ll be a backlash, the same as if it came from Gary Neville or Roy Keane.
What trailblazers like Carney should not be subject to is sexist abuse, which can’t be defended.