Tottenham: Son’s Stock Rises as Janssen’s Falls

In some subtle ways, Tottenham’s 3-2 win over West Ham Saturday was very much a tale of two players: Vincent Janssen and Heung-min Son.

The headlines after the match were, appropriately, about Harry Kane’s late winning turn and Harry Winks’ debut goal. Those players’ contributions won the match for Tottenham, but to understand the team at this moment in time you must look elsewhere.

After the weekend’s action, Tottenham find themselves still in fifth place — but only four points off the top of the table. The club remains the last unbeaten side in England, and for that they have the defense to thank. Hugo Lloris, Jan Vertonghen, et al deserve the lion’s share of the credit for Tottenham remaining in the title conversation.

It’s on the opposite end of the pitch where any fault in this team lies. The 18 goals Tottenham have scored thus far are seven less than the next highest scorer in the league. Who can say how many of Tottenham’s six draws would be wins were that gulf even slightly narrower?

The easy way to explain this gap would be to point at Kane’s early trials in front of goal and subsequent injury. With last season’s Golden Boot winner struggling or off the pitch entirely, it’s understandable that Tottenham would suddenly look blunt.

In theory, Tottenham had at hand the tools to sharpen a Kane-less attack. Dele Alli could contribute goals, as could Christian Eriksen. Plus, Janssen was brought in over the summer in the hopes that he, like Kane, had bags of goals in him.

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None of that exactly played out in practice. Alli and Eriksen, like Kane, have both looked out of form so far this term. Despite heaping loads of patience, Janssen has yet to come good in Tottenham lilywhite.

Early in the term, these effects were hardly noticeable thanks to the surprise contributions of Son. Though he was linked with a move away over the summer, the South Korean took the chances he was given and quickly proved his worth.

He scored five goals and set up two assists in a six game stretch capped with a masterful turn in Kane’s striker position against Manchester City. It seemed, briefly, that Tottenham would hardly miss Kane as he recuperated.

Then, something shifted. Mauricio Pochettino’s plan to alternate between Janssen and Son at striker backfired. Far from offering different threats against different opposition, it looked to have thrown Son off his game. With Janssen improving but not so much to offset Son’s disappearing contributions, Spurs suffered. It’s no wonder that Saturday’s result was Tottenham’s first win since that City match.

Son playing through an ankle injury didn’t help matters much, but it’s clear that Tottenham — and specifically Pochettino — weren’t sure how to get the best out of the attack.

The match against West Ham offered a microcosm of this whole situation. Janssen started alongside a newly-healthy Kane and did not meet already-low expectations.

West Ham’s three-man defense successfully contained Tottenham’s striking pair for the most part. When the visitor’s defense did let a decent pass through — say, when Rose cut into the box and set the ball across goal — neither Janssen nor Kane were in positions to take advantage.

While neither striker exploited the chances afforded to them, the weight of the blame falls on Janssen. Kane naturally operates from deeper positions in a striker partnership, leaving the Dutchman as the tip of the spear so to speak. He needs to be the one waiting for crosses and passes like Rose’s.

That lack of positional awareness has plagued Janssen throughout the last few months. He plays the role of hold-up man well, but when it comes to getting into a position to score he’s sadly lacking. Even his one chance of the afternoon involved a possible hand-ball that went unpunished.

It’s these kind of difficulties that explain why Tottenham’s goals all but dried up when Son’s form dipped and Janssen was relied on to cover for Kane.

Late in the game came Tottenham’s redemption. Son was introduced from the bench in the 72nd minute and made an immediate impact from the wing. Suddenly West Ham couldn’t compact their centre-backs — someone had to pull wide to mark Son. That disjointed geometry ultimately meant that Son had a hand in both Kane’s late equalizer and the winning penalty goal two minutes later.

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That twenty minutes of play might just be the sign Tottenham were waiting for that Son is back on track. Even with Kane back, Tottenham need the dynamism and ingenuity of Son on that left wing. He was devastating there early in the season, and he can be so again over a crucial stretch of upcoming games.

Expect Son to start against Monaco and Chelsea over the next week. If Pochettino knows what he’s doing — and Tottenham fans have no reason to think that he doesn’t — then Son will reclaim the left wing in a 4-2-3-1, unarguably his best position.

As for Janssen, there’s still room for patience. His positional issues can be fixed and, with Kane back, his form doesn’t need to improve immediately.