Korean Footballers Abroad Weekend Recap: Son’s first hat trick for Spurs / video highlight

One heroic performance and a pile of other bleh.

Park Joo Ho — Wasn’t in squad.

Ki Sung Yueng — I guess not fit enough yet to be on the bench. Unlike fellow injured player Montero, Ki not in reserve squad match so not sure a sign he’s more or less likely to play next weekend. But Swansea had their first step backwards last weekend and relegation again seems real danger.

Kwon Chang Hoon — Very disappointing as KCH was left out of the 18. I think he did ok with reserve side but this isn’t what anybody wanted. Not sure if it is a trust issue or language issue but not a great sign heading into final stretch fight against relegation.

Son Heung Min — The bright spot in the weekend, scoring a hat trick. He started off very poor and his touch was so bad that the stadium groaned and Alli raised his hands in frustration. But moments later, he did his favorite cut in and shoot and scored a great goal with his left foot. His next goal was also classic Son as he beat the offside trap and had a nice volley. His last goal was a gift as GK completely just dropped ball into his own goal, but Son also added a nice assist to Janssen.

With Kane out for the foreseeable future, there will be a lot of pressure on Son to produce and while his touch is very concerning, he has to be heading into this situation with tons of confidence. Even international duty will be light as he’s suspended vs China and will only have Syria to play albeit with short rest after. That said, the past few weeks and the start of this match hints at some problems with Son’s performances.

Ji Dong Won — He came on when Bobadilla got hurt, but by then Augsburg were already well beaten. I didn’t watch too closely but biggest concern I saw was Ji mistaking stupid and cheap fouls for quality physical play. He continues to fail to beat guys on the dribble and he’ll have to figure out how to play strong if he can’t play skillfully.

Koo Ja Cheol — Koo was a mess in the first part and somehow Augsburg were on their back heels for the first half and suddenly down by 3. Koo had a hand in the first goal, being late with the offside trap but it was a complete team failure, though against a Schalke team that had shown signs of life. Maybe I’ll try to watch the second half again, but it was so ugly and hard to watch.

Lee Chung Yong — Off.