Antonio Conte really needs to put £22m Tottenham player on free-kicks against Arsenal – opinion

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Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte faces plenty of tough decisions ahead of the north London derby this weekend – but he really needs to put Heung-Min Son on free-kicks against Arsenal. 

Spurs have improved dramatically at set-pieces so far this season and have become a big threat from dead-ball situations.

New set-piece coach Gianni Vio seems to be working his magic as Conte’s men have now scored five goals from corners this season. Which is the same number they managed throughout the whole of the last campaign.

But Tottenham haven’t improved their productivity from direct free-kicks and this is something Conte can easily change. 

Conte needs to put Son on free-kicks

Harry Kane is Tottenham’s most frequent free-kick taker and despite his undoubted quality, it’s not an area where the England captain excels.

According to Opta, Kane has taken 44 free-kicks since the 2017-18 campaign and has not scored once (The Athletic). 

The England captain’s efforts tend to bounce back off the wall the majority of the time, barring a couple of attempts. One of note is the free-kick that bounced back off the bar against Manchester City last February.

He also hit the post against Arsenal last year but despite his obvious qualities, free-kick taking is not one of them.

And Spurs actually have a player in Heung-Min Son who has proven he can hit the back of the net from dead-ball situations.

But since making the £22 million switch from Bayern Leverkusen back in 2015 (BBC), Son has not been given a real chance to prove he’s the man for the job. 

The 30-year-old scored a brilliant free-kick for South Korea against Costa Rica this week while on international duty. And Conte should take note of Son’s ability from dead-ball situations. 

As per the Athletic, Opta statistics reveal that Son has only taken five direct free-kicks for Spurs since the beginning for the 2017-18 campaign. 

He’s scored one of them, which gives him a 20 percent conversion rate. And in comparison to Kane’s zero percent, he stacks up well.

Eric Dier has attempted 15 free-kicks for Spurs in this time period, with the exact same success rate as his England teammate. 

Son has shown he can produce from these situations for his country and with Kane’s lack of success, Conte needs to put the South Korean star on free-kicks this Saturday.

Spurs have not had an effective direct free-kick taker at the club since Christian Eriksen left in 2020. But this whole time, they have seemingly had the perfect man for the job.