Weekend Roundup + NT news: SHM still on fire [UPDATE]

Quite the weekend it was for our KPA, especially Son Heungmin, who scored + assisted in Tottenham’s 4-0 victory against Everton, winning the MotM trophy (apparently they give little gold trophies now?) in the process. 

Consistency had always been the problem for SHM. The player who could pull off magic one one day yet disappear completely the next seems to have vanished. Son, who has been acknowledged by Poch as a key player in the side for a while now (seriously, Poch heaps praise onto Son after like every game), has finally fixed himself into the XI  He seems to have struck a great partnership with Harry Kane, and it’s great to see him running at defenders confidently, instead of losing the ball half the time.

Rio Ferdinand and all the other TV pundits unanimously lauded SHM’s performance vs. Everton.

Those people are starting to look a little bit silly, with Son fast developing into a top class winger – his goal against Everton on Saturday was his fifth consecutive home goal for the Lilywhites, a feat only matched by Jermain Defoe, and his 40th for the club in all competitions. And he now has eight this season in the Premier League, which is more than the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Riyad Mahrez, Sadio Mane, Anthony Martial and Eden Hazard.

That really is a fine return for somebody who hasn’t always been viewed as an indispensable starter by Mauricio Pochettino – and it sounds like he’s definitely starting to gain that status in the eyes of his manager.

The Argentine said, via HITC: “It’s three months we’ve been talking about Sonny’s performance. He’s showing he’s more mature than last season and his performances are helping the team a lot. He, today, everyone can see that he’s on more of a level, the belief and confidence that show in every game is fantastic. He’s been doing so well this season of course.”

Here are the highlights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uBrWDglhFA

And Pochettino’s comments on SHM

Koo Jacheol scored a header for Augsburg this past Saturday and was included in Kicker’s team of the week. It’s too early to say, but KJC seems to be hitting form after his injury at a perfect time (ahead of the WC) – Manuel Baum is clearly a fan of KJC, who recently admitted that Koo’s offensive prowess has gone to waste in the #6 position. He delivered on the promise to use KJC more offensively, as last game KJC was deployed wide instead of in CM.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYs3diHX2u4

Ki Sungyong played as the midfield “1” in the 4-1-4-1 for Swansea. There have been a lot of transfer rumors surrounding KSY lately, but it seems he’ll stay with Swansea for the rest of the season.

Swans boss Carvalhal revealed he had spoken with Ki about the situation, and suggested the player has indicated he will see out the season in South Wales and only make a decision over his future once the outcome of the relegation battle is decided.

But the Portuguese indicated he would do all he can to keep Ki in Swansea colours given the chance.

“Ki is a good player, a player I like and am happy to have fit and able to play in the team,” said the 52-year-old.

“I have told him I think he is a fantastic player and I agreed with him that we will do the maximum until the end of the season with a new contract or without one.

“He will give the maximum to us and, if we are able to achieve staying in the Premier League then I will do everything I can to make sure he stays.

“But there is no problem on that, he is a person I trust and he will give everything for us to the end of the season.”

About his performance against Newcastle:

Ki Sung-yueng 7: Back from injury, had a slow start but was more prominent after the break, playing a couple of lovely crossfield passes and linking play well. A welcome return.

Kwon Changhoon was benched this weekend, supposedly to rest him against PSG midweek.

Suk Hyunjun played 90′ in a 1-0 loss to Bordeaux

Kim Jungmin is finally starting to play for Liefering in their preseason friendlies. So far he’s played 45′ in all of them, and hopefully he’ll establish himself in the side before February comes around.

Other news:

NT Callups for the January training camp: It’s a very typical, no surprises, “meh” selection from Shin Taeyong:

Inexplicably, Jang Hyunsoo, Jung Wooyoung, and Kim Youngkwon (KYK hasn’t played a single minute for his club since the last NT games) are still being calledup.

On the bright side, a third foreign coach will join up with the team in Turkey. In addition to Javier Miñano (fitness) and Toni Grande (“assistant” coach), we will get Fernando Hierro as our “Performance Analyst.” And yes, that is the Real Madrid legend Fernando Hierro. No idea how the KFA managed to get these kinds of coaches, but hey we’ll take it.

The AFC U-23 Championships:

Oh my dear god it’s a complete mess out there. Manager Kim Bongkil has absolutely no idea what he’s doing – he called up a very frustrating XI (missing many of the best U23 players we have) and keeps fielding players who clearly are out of their league (Yoon Seungwon, who has not only been ineffective but also hilariously missed a penalty, continues to play as the central #10 playmaker…).

On the other hand though, 18 year old Cho Youngwook, who signed for FC Seoul, is playing pretty well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaxw5gcNj7o

Lee Jaesung transferring finally?

A credible source (by credible I mean deemed credible by French media outlets and BSK) suggests that OM (Marseille) and Nice are interested in signing LJS. But sadly, there has been no traction on that story since the initial report, and I am afraid LJS will stick it out at Jeonbuk for now and think about Europe after the World Cup (which is actually a good idea, but still, sad).

EXTRA TIME:

Tavern Owner interjecting – it’s been busy for everyone at the Tavern so we weren’t able to get in Son’s suberb swaz-y shot against West Ham towards the end of the festive season earlier this month – it saved Spurs’ from dropping more points – Son’s rocket of a 30′ shot equalized and it would remain that way for a 1-1 draw. Still worth another look at, just a sensational (or the pun-dits would say son-sational – drum roll please) goal:

2 things to note:

• Son later revealed to English media the reason he did a ‘shush’ to the West Ham support side -which happened to be the end he scored in – it was for the racist run in with a West Ham supporter in November – who accosted Son at a traffic light and asked him if he could buy DVD’s from him. Brutally awesome comeback.
• It was my humble no-guarantee birthday wish from the Tavern owner that Son score one. Of course, the universe didn’t have to grant that wish – a pretty silly one at that. Somehow he managed to score and it remarkably and coincidentally topped off a lovely personalized birthday celebration for me. 😉