Middlesbrough 1 - 2 SpursTottenham edge out Middlesbrough as in-form Son Heung-min hits double
Home team scorersBen Gibson 65
Away team scorersHeung-Min Son 7
Heung-Min Son 23
Tottenham have begun this season as they played much of the last. All talk of a potential hangover from the latter days of the previous campaign can surely be eviscerated after a fourth Premier League win, and another stellar display from Son Heung-min, maintained their unbeaten start.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side outclassed Middlesbrough before a significant week that includes a trip to CSKA Moscow and home game against Manchester City. They have conceded three times in the league and with Son in a patch of deep purple concerns about the length of Harry Kane’s potential absence are perhaps not so pressing.
Kane injured an ankle against Sunderland and was not in the squad here, missing his fourth league game since the start of the 2014-15 season, but Spurs were as potent in attack as ever.
Son’s two goals were brilliantly taken – even if Boro’s defending was tame – and although the introduction of Adama Traoré improved things for Aitor Karanka’s side, they were comprehensively outplayed.
For Son, a player who came close to leaving in the summer, it is quite a turnaround. Pochettino said: “It’s fantastic for him. He’s a player that works hard and is a nice guy. In football, if you work hard you get the payback.
“For all players who come from outside England it’s difficult – the Premier League is one of the toughest in the world. To settle here is a very difficult thing. After one year and the summer, today it’s a different situation for him. He’s more mature and is settled fantastically now.”
The first half was one of the worst played by Middlesbrough here for some time. Karanka sat in his seat, hand planted on face, while his team struggled to string a pass together and looked vulnerable every time Spurs attacked.
Granted, Tottenham were impressively slick, but their progress was made simpler by Boro’s ragtag defending which, at one stage, prompted the goalkeeper Victor Valdés to exchange heated words with his team-mate Adam Clayton.
It was Son’s half. The South Korean now has four Premier League goals this season after two at Stoke – as many as in the entire 2015-16 campaign – and was equally dangerous as a provider and a finisher.
Both goals, however, emerged following weak defending. In the seventh minute Christian Eriksen played the ball into Vincent Janssen’s feet and, with his back to goal, the striker laid it off to Son. There was still work to be done, but he skipped inside two limp challenges before finishing low with his left foot.
Karanka said: “It’s frustrating for me to be working seven days to try to show them how Tottenham play, how good they are. After seven days working with the video, you go to the pitch and seven minutes later you are losing 1-0.
“The worst thing, and most frustrating thing for me, is the attitude, especially in the first half because in the second half we were completely different. The first half was awful.”
Soon, it was two. On this occasion, the defending was even worse – Antonio Barragán and Cristhian Stuani got in an almighty muddle inside the penalty area near the byline, but Son still had work to do. The 24-year-old muscled back on the ball and curled a delightful shot past Valdés and into the goalkeeper’s top-left corner.
Karanka had to do something about his team’s malaise and duly replaced Álvaro Negredo with Jordan Rhodes – a decision greeted with loud applause – and the ineffective Gastón Ramírez with Traoré in the 58th minute.
It was the impetus that the home team required and, out of nothing, they pulled one back, Ben Gibson outjumping Victor Wanyama to head in Stewart Downing’s free-kick from the left.
The Riverside was rocking momentarily, but it proved irrelevant. Spurs remained calm as tempers rose to secure another victory and consolidate their position at the top end of the Premier League.
Guardian
