Pundit rounds on Son Heung-min doubters but hits out at ‘awful’ and ‘boring’ Tottenham

Former West Ham striker Frank McAvennie has urged fans not to ‘jump the gun’ with out-of-form Tottenham forward Son Heung-min.

The South Korean has failed to score in eight matches so far this season and also has just one assist to his name in what has been a tough start to the new campaign for him personally.

While Spurs are going well domestically, currently sitting third in the Premier League, Son’s confidence is currently fragile.

Tuesday night’s Champions League loss at Sporting Lisbon saw the winger hauled off again in the second half. However, Antonio Conte has consistently backed Son and refused to drop him.

And McAvennie believes the wide man is getting too much stick for his lack of goals. Indeed, the former Celtic striker feels Son is not an out-and-out striker and should not be judged as one.

When asked if he Son would benefit from having a rest, McAvennie told Football Insider: “I was an out-and-out striker and I had similar patches.

“People need to remember Son is not a striker. I think everyone is jumping the gun.

“Son is a hell of a player and so is [Harry] Kane. Those two you do not displace.

“There has been a lot of hype around Tottenham but I watched them against Sporting Lisbon and they were awful. I must have picked the wrong game to watch.

“You could see the antics of Antonio Conte on the sidelines. I was thinking, ‘Wow, they must be better than this.’ It was awful. I switched it off because I was bored.”

Tottenham are back in Premier League action against Leicester on Saturday evening.

The game represents a great chance to go above north London rivals Arsenal, who face Brentford on Sunday.

Son hampered by Perisic arrival

While Ivan Perisic’s summer arrival has so far been a successful one, in some ways it’s affected Son‘s performances.

All too often the two appear to be getting in each other’s space, given how high Conte likes his wing-backs to play.

The duo also look to cut inside, meaning Son does not have an overlapping wing-back to free up space for him to attack the box.

However, it’s not like Son has been limited in his opportunities to get on the scoresheet. The South Korean has just lacked his normal sharpness in front of goal and is dwelling on the ball a fraction of a second longer than he normally does.

In some ways, he’s reverted a little to the Son of old, where he used to go through hot streaks.

The former Leverkusen man was incredibly consistent last season. However, prior to that, he would often go several games without really being involved before then exploding and being almost unplayable for weeks.

At the moment, Conte just needs to trust that Son will soon start to fire and that, in turn, will take Harry Kane’s game up another level.

The England skipper was quiet in the loss at Sporting on Tuesday. But he’ll be buoyed by seeing Leicester on the fixture list next.

Kane has scored 17 goals in 14 matches against the Foxes in the Premier League. That is the most goals he has scored against any side.

But right now Son would take a solitary strike to get up and running and then build from there.

READ MORE: Italian journalist delivers worrying update on Antonio Conte future