Son Heung-Min has been delivering a lacklustre performance in recent games in the Premier League. He has fired shots that did not score a goal in the first six games. Antonio Conte, Tottenham’s manager then decided to sideline the South Korean for their game against Leicester City.
The now 30-year-old player was called on to the field by Conte in the 59th minute. They were already at 3-2 against Leicester City. Within 13 minutes, Son scored a hat-trick while just coming out of the bench. It was shocking that this could happen and 30 minutes later, the score turned to 6-2.
The Korean shot from 20 yards and struck from the bottom corner. He finished by having a deflected shot after a VAR overturned an offside call. He scored with his right foot later on.
Initially, he had found this new season to be challenging and has taken 17 shots with no goals.
Since 2017, he has scored the first time as a replacement has made him feel less pressured to be on Tottenham. “It was an amazing feeling,” Son told BBC Sport.
“I couldn’t believe it [when I scored]. All the frustration and what I had, disappointment and negative feelings just went. I couldn’t move so I stood still. It made me really happy.
“Football is crazy sometimes. Sometimes the ball didn’t want to go inside and three times [it did today]. It changes everything. I learned so much in this tough period. I need to work hard every time to get the chance.
“Three lucky goals and I’m really proud.”
Antonio Conte claimed this to be an “experiment” with Son Heung-Min, especially after he scored the hat-trick. Conte then elaborated that he might make Son sit on the bench again just to see what happens next.
Conte told the press: ‘I am really happy for Sonny today, you know what I think of the player. I said to him,”If you’re going to score three goals in 30 minutes “maybe we can repeat this experiment”, but I was joking.
‘I think that it is important to understand well that when you play a lot of games in the row that when you’re not psychically tired, you can be mentally tired, and you’re not able to play every game.
‘But I was a player and I know you want to play massive games – to play Champions League and Premier League are massive games – they are starting to understand the rotation.
‘To have a player of Son’s level on the bench means that in one moment I can change the game and also with the rotation at the back today and when Bissouma came on he gave us a lot of strength and energy and I think this is the right path for us.’