Heung-Min Son's goal against Liverpool last Saturday probably killed the main intrigue of the season as Klopp's team lost points and fell even further behind Manchester City. Son, on the other hand, has scored for the 9th time in the last 7 games and has scored 20 goals in a season for the first time in his career. The Korean is now Mohamed Salah's closest rival in terms of top scorers (20 goals to 22) and the leader in terms of goals, not counting penalties.
Such stats are very important for football fans, and they are factored in on sites with Football Betting Odds and Tips as footwagers. Therefore, we offer a closer look at the performance of the Korean star.
Heung-Min Son is equally good with his right and left foot
In 2020, Virgil Van Dijk was asked to compile the top five players in the APL, not including his Liverpool partners. The Dutchman chose Son and explained, “He's fast and strong, goes on the pitch to make life a living hell for opponents, and his finishing from both the right and left foot is incredible.”
To back that up, Son became only the second right-footed player to score 10+ goals in the APL with his left foot (the first was his friend Harry Kane in the 2017/18 season). Son now has 12 goals and has equaled Van Persie, a left-footed player who scored 12 times with his right foot during the 2011/12 season. At the same time Kane and Van Persie scored 30 goals a season, which means that 33% of Harry's goals were scored by his left foot and 40% of Robin's were scored by his right foot.
That's a lot for a non-main foot, but Son's rate this season is 60%. Son is now one step away from the Premier League record of 39 goals with the “weak” leg – shared by Kane and Van Persie. And as a percentage of total goals, Son's figure is much higher: Kane, at 179 goals, has 21.7% with the weak foot, Van Persie has 27% of 144, and Son has 42.2% of 90.
“His ability to play with both feet comes from childhood. He worked on it with his father and joined the club with it,” a source told The Athletic. This is where Son differs greatly from Harry Kane, who pumped up his left foot game as an adult: In an interview with Gary Neville, Harry said he spent three months coaching finishing without touching the ball with his right foot at all. Son, on the other hand, just keeps working on it. Roger Schmidt, who coached the Korean at Bayer, recalled: “He trained a lot, had extra lessons with his father. After training he was hitting with his right and left leg.” Son's two-legged nature amazed his Hamburg partner Rafael Van Der Vaart: “I think he doesn't even know if he's right or left-handed. Antonio Conte was impressed with Son's goal against Leicester with a long-range shot: “I hugged him tightly and after the stunning goal I wanted to know which leg was his favorite – right or left.
Son has been at Tottenham for almost seven years, and all the while he continues to work on his weak leg, doing extra exercises on completion. “I knew him before, but when you see the training work, you can understand the quality of the player. He wants to improve,” Conte said.
Son's right-footedness is noticeable on passes or on standards, but his shots are much more evenly distributed. This feature makes life difficult for defenders and makes the Korean unpredictable: he is not limited in any way and is able to kick equally successfully with any foot or move the ball both under the right and left foot.
This season, Son has kicked 34 times with his left foot and 38 times with his right foot. The percentage was higher in his first two seasons at Tottenham, the absolute number only in the 2016/17 season (37). But, firstly, Son has already played more this season, and secondly, the season is not over yet, and the Korean will probably break his own record both in total shots (81 in the 2019/20 season, now 75) and in left-footed shots.
The number of shots alone isn't always indicative, but Son has been hitting from better positions this season. This is complemented by increased episode acuity, a comfortable style of play, and insane execution. Son is scoring with nearly every third left-footed shot, a unique situation that may not happen again.
