*UPDATED* Weekend Roundup (Sept 24-25): Your Defense is Terrified -- Sonny's On Fire

Jinseok will add more later, but he’s living that busy college life so I’ll get the bare bones out right now. This weekend saw Son Heungmin continue his ridiculously good form with a brace against Middlesborough. Named Man of the Match with over 90% of the votes, top-ranked European based player at WhoScored, plaudits all across the map from every pundit, teammate and manager. To hijack the football chant of the summer — Sonny’s on fire, your defense is terrified, Sonny’s on fire…

[tb]
Player, Club, Opponent, Result, Notes
Son Heungmin, Tottenham, @Middlesborough, 2-1 W, 90′ + 2 goals + unanimous MOTM
Ji Dongwon, Augsburg, Darmstadt, 1-0 W, 90′
Koo Jacheol, Augsburg, Darmstadt, 1-0 W, 90′ + assist
Lee Chungyong, Palace, @Sunderland, 3-2 W, sub in injury time + assist
Ki Sungyueng, Swansea, @Southampton, 1-0 L, bench start + 17′
Hwang Heechan, Red Bull Salzburg, @Altach, 0-0 D, bench start + 5′ [/tb]

Yun Sukyoung (Brondby), Suk Hyunjun (Trabzonspor), Park Jooho (Dortmund) and Kim Jinsu (Hoffenheim) did not make the team list.

The big story of the week was obviously Son Heungmin. Here are his goals and an interview with him post game… Jinseok will add on with more reaction as well as news from the other KPA’s in what was a great week from those who managed to play.

Ahh yes, thanks Tim for filling in for me – this time of the year (first semester of senior year of college) is not a great time for anyone due to job interviews, graduate school interviews, etc. but hey the love for Korean football must continue!

So as everyone has probably heard by now, Son Heung Min is in the form of his life. Three consecutive unanimous MotM, 4 goals in 3 games, praise from pretty much all of his teammates, and appearances in basically every team of the week. Oh, and not to mention, thanks to having only played 3 games, Son Heungmin is currently the world’s best player according to statistical rating site Whoscored.com.

“He has worked very hard on his game,” said Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino. “I’m really pleased for him because he’s a really nice person to work with. It can take time to settle in a new country, a new league, especially the Premier League, it’s tougher than anywhere else.

“He is a different person, his personal situation is different and he has settled now which is fantastic. When you are an offensive player scoring goals, you can see the confidence he has.”

…

(when asked about the transfer saga)

“I didn’t want him to go. “You can see his reaction has been good. The expectation on him, when you arrive in a new country, with a different style of football. He struggled to settle, but he’s working very hard and that is the most important thing. “Not all players would be able to do that. I’m impressed with him as a man as well as a footballer. He’s a very nice person and how he works is impressive.

– Pocchettino

…

“I was right behind it. I don’t know why he said he was so shocked about it, you see him do it all the time in training and he’s always working on his finishing. He’s a fantastic player and deserves all the credit he should be getting. He’s on fire and hopefully he’ll keep it going.”

– Dele Alli on the 2nd goal

…

Son on the transfer saga

“I am very happy now,” said Son, whose better grasp of the English language may help explain the uplift in form. “It was good to talk to the manager. All I have wanted to do is play in the Premier League, it is the best league. I am very happy to stay here and to be out on the pitch.

…

“It is difficult to say if I thought I would come back after the Olympics. It is difficult to answer. I don’t know how I have to answer. I am staying here and I am very happy I am staying. I like playing for Tottenham and I like scoring goals

…

“I wanted to ask him to play more. This is true, every player wants to play games. The gaffer gave me a chance and I am very grateful to him, he has given me this chance to play. I am very happy now. He was very honest with me.”

…

Confidence aside, it seems to me what has improved in SHM the most is his dribbling. Remember when he always took on one too many defenders and lost the ball? Well to be honest he still does that, but he’s a little more successful with his takeons, as this recent FourFourTwo report suggested:

Most take-ons – Son Heung-min (9/16)

No Premier League player has attempted more take-ons in a single match than Son did against Middlesbrough on Sunday, and there is no doubt that his dribbling skills directly impacted upon the game. Six of the South Korean’s successful take-ons took place in the build-up to his two first-half goals.

Son is now averaging 4.7 successful take-ons per match, which is both a career high and the most in the Premier League this season. One thing that Spurs lacked last campaign was a penetrative winger (hence the £30 million acquisition of Moussa Sissoko), and in ex-Bayer Leverkusen Son, Mauricio Pochettino has (eventually) found the final piece of the jigsaw.

Read more at http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/weekend-stats-winners-and-losers-who-was-pass-master-guilty-waster-dribble-king#m1RbwKFLQQh4ZoWt.99

Before we get carried away, let’s remember that the opposition so far has consisted of Stoke City, Sunderland, and Middlesborough. Next week happens to be Manchester City, who are currently undefeated in the Premier League. In this clash of first place vs. second place, SHM will be put to the real test – can he produce this sort of form against much more competent defenders? Precedent tells us no, but if he can score against Man City and retain his #1 position on the Whoscored chart, when my friends talk to me about Son Heung Min, I will change my answer from “Yeah he’s probably gonna have a stinker next week” to “SHM IS GOD.”

Goals:

Ball touch:

Post game interview:

"I was shocked!"

Matchwinner Heung-Min Son even surprised himself with a beauty of a second goal in our 2-1 win at Boro! #COYS pic.twitter.com/Il4ygbn6Kv

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) September 24, 2016

Ki Sungyong was benched as expected after last week’s drama unfolded. But it seems that his talks with Guidolin have gone fairly well considering that he got some playing time and made the bench. I doubt that he’ll be back to starting again next week, but there are also reports that Guidolin will be the first Premier League managerial casualty, and if that’s the case, I am fairly certain the new manager will be compelled to start. Unfortunately, one of the new managerial candidates is Bob Bradley. Though he did decently well (being generous here) with USA back in 2010, his track record as manager is pretty poor and his style certainly doesn’t seem to suit Swansea.

Lee Chungyong perhaps silenced some haters with a clutch corner kick after being subbed on super late. Though he was subbed in injury time (likely as a time-waster), he took a corner kick that ended up in Benteke scoring the winning goal. Luck or not, I still think LCY should be starting, because Palace still don’t look very convincing at all…

Over in FC Koreaburg we have Ji Dongwon and Koo Jacheol continuing to play very well. Koo has notched his first assist of the season, while Ji, in particular, is turning out to be the surprise of the season with some very impressive outings despite having not scored. I certainly did not expect this from him, and I hope that these two stick it out with Augsburg until after 2018, because no other club is going to guarantee this much amount of trust and playing time ahead of the 2018 qualifiers and WC.

I will briefly mention Hwang Heechan, only because he managed to score midweek and got a very miniscule amount of time in the league game. Clearly, he still has a lot of work to do before he can become a regular on Salzburg (and the KNT).