If anyone is interested, there's a 90 min documentary about Sonny on Amazon Prime called Sonsational.
It clearly been made for the Korean/Asian market given there's a lot of English subtitles but its worth a watch just to see his journey to get to where he has, from his humble background and the influence of his Dad on him and his career. The Dad could almost be a James Bond villain.
Watched this cos I really like this fella , the commitment to the game from such a young age is amazing . I really hope he is happy, I know he is from another culture , I just feel he’s so smothered by his old man he can’t breathe . Although the regimentedness of it all I’m sure leads to him being the ultimate professional .
Just hope when his career is finished I bump in to him in Vegas having a good time and he’s knee deep in clunge letting his hair down.
Such a lovely lad ffs if Spurs ever win anything I’ll focus on this fella .
I find Son's public perception very interesting. He's always dived and cheated, just like every other footballer. However, he's managed to get away with this lovely boy image because apparently off the pitch he is. Suarez is apparently like that too though, and Diego Costa, but Son is a bit more clever with his on-pitch indiscretions and manages to get away with some pretty cynical behaviour. He got sent off for kicking out at Rudiger stupidly, but got a free pass because he was sad when he went off. Rudiger made the absolute most of it but it was still a stupid, petulant thing to do. Let's not forget the Gomes tackle either. While Son absolutely didn't intend to hurt Gomes the way he did at all, he still slid in to make a cynical challenge with the express intention of taking Gomes out. THe ball was gone and he wanted to stop Gomes breaking away. In a normal world it's a yellow and we move on, but it's still a nasty off the ball challenge that doesn't chime with the loveliest man on earth image. But then Son cried as a result of his deliberate foul having larger consequences than anticipated and all the sympathy migrated to him. Google that situation and all you get is articles about people rallying to Son, the fact he was in tears, the fact he texted a 'heartfelt apology' to Gomes. Never before have I seen a situation where a bloke broke his leg and managed to not be the one getting the sympathy in the story. I like Son, I think he's a good player but I find the way he seems to be perceived as some kind of angel very bizarre, he's a footballer like any other perfectly willing to cheat and carry out the dark arts like any player. I wonder if that will fade now that this VAR decision has been so unpopular.
We'll i might be an outlier but i think it was a deliberate swing of his arm which was unsporting - therefore a foul. The big question is the use of VAR to reach the decision that he did. If we go back to check everything then the game is going to take 5 hours to play out.
We'll i might be an outlier but i think it was a deliberate swing of his arm which was unsporting - therefore a foul. The big question is the use of VAR to reach the decision that he did. If we go back to check everything then the game is going to take 5 hours to play out.
I agree with you. Not only was it a deliberate swing of his arm but a deliberate flick of his wrist to make the impact worse. Tominay should have got a second yellow. (ABU)
He’s a modern footballer playing modern football. They all game the system to gain advantage. It was ever thus but what was done in the past wouldn’t work now.
I think there’s a good case for both opinions, one of those that only the two players can decipher in those split second instances. It actually was a foul, intentional or otherwise.....and yes, Son disappointingly made a meal of it. To the letter of the law, a free kick was the correct decision IMHO.
Often players have to make a meal out of fouls in order to gain the decision. It's annoying and I deteste play acting, but it's almost a requirement due to poor reffing standards.
I definitely thought it was a foul. It was a deliberate swing of the arm (intent), looked to poke him in the eye.
The theatrics aren't relevant when you can watch a replay.
And everyone does theatrics, foul or not.
It wasn't mctominays natural motion as some pundits have suggested.
Really surprised with the reaction. Given that we had a replay which was clear and 99% of the football world were upset bu the decision, we may as well give up now!
Was listening to talksport and someone called in and said made the correct conclusion with var... the rules are wrong (ie offside and handball) not the var. danny murphy disagreed straight away and therein lies the problem.
I think there’s a good case for both opinions, one of those that only the two players can decipher in those split second instances. It actually was a foul, intentional or otherwise.....and yes, Son disappointingly made a meal of it. To the letter of the law, a free kick was the correct decision IMHO.
I think this is how I see it too. The decision to call a foul there was technically correct, but football doesn't really run on technically correct. All over the pitch every game there's little fouls and niggles that if they were examined forensically would result in the game being stopped. The problem is though the game then wouldn't flow, you'd constantly be having free kicks and nothing would get done. Obstructions, accidental collisions, trailing arms, contested headers, they all could be seen as fouls but rarely are. Fouls are also often given on context; a ref is going to let some minor things go in aid of a flowing game and based on the amount of needle in a match. The problem with VAR is it demands a review of the whole move for a goal, and that means that the only aspect of football that is receiving forensic examination is the part that the whole game is played for. Goals are the point of football, so for some bizarre reason we're subjecting only them to scrutiny that reduces the chances of them actually counting. It's so frustrating. With the McTominay situation, he felt Son's arm on his shoulder and threw his arm back to avoid getting dragged back, but Son had removed his arm immediately and he caught Son in the face. McTominay is no angel and I'm sure in the moment he wasn't too bothered exactly where his hand landed, but the fact is that whether he caught Son or not it didn't affect the move at all; Son wasn't close enough to stop McTominay playing the pass he did regardless of whether he went down, and the move progressed from there. That situation didn't alter the direction of the move at all, it is just something that happened, but a good goal was chalked off based on a strict application of the law of the game that wouldn't be consistently applied in any other circumstance. Football is in a weird place at the moment
Have South Korea picked the entire defence of one of their domestic clubs? That’s an amazingly old fashioned idea if so.
Yeah their keeper and back 4 today all play for their domestic champions Ulsan. To be fair though they were forced into it as their first choice keeper was injured and main centre back Kim Min-Jae who plays for Bayern was suspended.
Have South Korea picked the entire defence of one of their domestic clubs? That’s an amazingly old fashioned idea if so.
Yeah their keeper and back 4 today all play for their domestic champions Ulsan. To be fair though they were forced into it as their first choice keeper was injured and main centre back Kim Min-Jae who plays for Bayern was suspended.
Ah right, thought it might be a deliberate strategy. I’m sure Italy used to do something like it back in the day.
When does he rejoin spurs for prem games. Asking for a friend that might put him in their fpl team 👀
He's flying back already. Barring any last minute issues, he'll definitely be in the squad for Saturday. Maybe the first time since Chelsea at home we'll actually be able to put out a team at arguably full strength.
EDIT - confirmed by Spurs he returns to training on Thursday.
Comments
I really hope he is happy, I know he is from another culture , I just feel he’s so smothered by his old man he can’t breathe .
Although the regimentedness of it all I’m sure leads to him being the ultimate professional .
Just hope when his career is finished I bump in to him in Vegas having a good time and he’s knee deep in clunge letting his hair down.
It was ever thus but what was done in the past wouldn’t work now.
It actually was a foul, intentional or otherwise.....and yes, Son disappointingly made a meal of it.
To the letter of the law, a free kick was the correct decision IMHO.
compared to rashfords dive which was ridiculous.
Maybe the first time since Chelsea at home we'll actually be able to put out a team at arguably full strength.
EDIT - confirmed by Spurs he returns to training on Thursday.