Roy Hodgson has heaped praise on Tottenham star Son Heung-min following his “outstanding” display against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Son scored twice as Spurs ran riot against the Eagles in the first half, with Erik Lamela and a Patrick van Aanholt own goal ensuring the margin of victory was a convincing one.
The South Korean opened the scoring with a brilliantly taken goal, latching onto Toby Alderweireld’s pass before cutting inside onto his left foot and finishing back across the goalkeeper.
After Van Aanholt inadvertently doubled Tottenham’s advantage, Son struck again with a fine volley after a flowing move from back to front. Despite failing to complete his hat-trick, he was a menace throughout and didn’t give Palace a moment’s rest.
In his press conference after the game, Hodgson was asked whether the fact Spurs won 4-0 without Harry Kane scoring is an indicator of their quality. The former Liverpool and England boss responded by praising Son’s display.
“Well, they have other good players in the team and I have to say Son’s performance in the first half was outstanding,” he said (via Football London). “It was also interesting in the last minutes of the game he was the one sprinting back into position to try and stop us score a goal.
“I can’t speak for Mauricio Pochettino, but if I had a player do what Son did today I would be really delighted. Luckily for Tottenham they don’t just have the one, they have several players who have goals in them and who have great passing ability.”
Hodgson’s sides are usually difficult to break down, so it is testament to Tottenham’s attacking quality on the day that they managed to score four goals so easily. Pochettino will be hoping for a repeat of that against Olympiacos on Wednesday night.
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