Heung-Min Son was sent off as Spurs lost 1-0 in the Premier League away at Bournemouth on Sunday – should Mauricio Pochettino be concerned?
Heung-Min Son has copped plenty of criticism for a rare moment of petulance in Tottenham Hotspur’s defeat to Bournemouth but, speaking to The Standard, former club hero Rafael Van der Vaart has suggested that positives can be taken from the South Korean’s lapse in discipline.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side were well on top at the Vitality Stadium and looked set for a win that would secure their return to the Champions League for the 2019/20 campaign.
But Son changed the game for all the wrong reasons, seeing red both literally and metaphorically for an ill-advised shove on Jefferson Lerma which gave referee Craig Pawson no choice but to reach for the back pocket.
An affable figure on and off the pitch, Son’s moment of madness caught plenty by surprise but Van der Vaart believes that this is not the time to descend into a moral panic.
“It sounds silly, but I like it [the shove],” the former Holland international told The Standard. “It’s not smart but sometimes you need that kind energy. It shows he hates losing. I’m not a player any more, I’m a fan, and I want to see somebody who wants to win and wants to fight.
“When I played with him (at Hamburg) he was 18 or 19 and a little bit shy. I think a little bit too shy. It’s not really that he was quiet but sometimes you have to step up and say what you think.
“He was always so nice to everybody and he wouldn’t say, ‘Give me the effing ball and I’ll do it’. You have to develop at that age.”
Fortunately for Tottenham, Son is free to play in Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final second leg away at Ajax on Wednesday night.
And they will probably need the 26-year-old to add to his tally of 20 goals this season if Spurs are to overturn a 1-0 deficit in Amsterdam.
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