SONNY’S SIDE UP
South Korean tore a strip off his team-mates after Fulham debacle but things are looking brighter now
HEUNG-MIN SON got the response he demanded from Tottenham after reading his team-mates the riot act.
Mild-mannered South Korea star Son was as furious as he has ever been when Spurs were spanked 3-0 by Fulham at Craven Cottage before the international break.
He labelled that defeat “unacceptable” in a post-match televised rant where he told his team-mates to look in the mirror and treat it as a wake-up call.
So the 31-year-old was delighted when his side showed just the kind of grit and determination he wanted to fight back from a goal down against Luton.
It looked like being another tough afternoon when Tahith Chong scored for the Hatters but an Issa Kabore own goal levelled the scores before skipper Son hit a late winner.
He said: “Fulham was a tough result and a tough few weeks. After the game we had an international break, it felt very long.
“But even when we conceded an early goal, we showed great character.
“I wish we could win every single game, 38 games, win them all.
“It’s easy to say but in football, performance-wise, it’s impossible.
“But losing in that way against Fulham was not us. Just not us. We showed great character to bounce back.
“We showed a great football style off the ball – it was very important.
“I am very pleased and very happy to get it right. It tastes nice this three points.”
Tottenham are three points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa with a game in hand and already dreaming of a return to the Champions League.
Defender Destiny Udogie is under no illusions about the size of that task.
But asked whether he was confident Spurs can do it, he said: “Definitely. We aim to win every game. So we will see at the end.
“We keep fighting until the end. We show this in every game. And every day in training.
“We are in good shape, we have to believe and do our best. This is what we are going to do.”
Spurs midfielder Yves Bissouma said: “The most important thing is to stay focused. We will train very hard.
“We have a lot of big games coming. We will work hard.
“Be ready to fight. We have nine finals. We will work hard and be ready for that.”
Spurs certainly needed to show bags of character because Luton had chances to extend their lead.
And Son’s 160th goal for the club did not come until the 86th minute with the game still firmly in the balance.
His last three goals have all come in the last five minutes of normal time – and Son (right) admits that Spurs work on late-game heroics in training.
He said: “I want to play until the last whistle and I still believe that the chances will be there, even in the 96th minute. Until the last whistle.
“When the chances come, everybody is tired. The way we play, we put in a lot of intensity.
“Especially second half of games, everybody gets tired and space will open up even more.
“Then you create more chances.
“That’s not a secret. We put in a lot of effort for this kind of situation.
“We work hard for these kind of situations.
“I just want, every single time, to be ready for every chance that I get.”
TOTTENHAM (4-2-3-1):
Vicario 6; Porro 6, Romero 6, Dragusin
7, Udogie 6; Bissouma 5 (Richarlison 85),
Sarr 6 (Lo Celso
68, 6); Kulusevski 6 (Johnson 46, 9), Maddison 6 (Bentancur 68, 6), Werner 7; Son 8 (Hojbjerg 88).
LUTON (4-3-3): Kaminski 6; Kabore 5, Mengi 6, Burke 6 (Hashioka 46, 6), Doughty 7 (Woodrow 84); Berry 6 (Clarke 63, 6), Barkley 8, Mpanzu 6; Townsend 6, Morris 6, Chong 7 (Onyedinma 74).