Alan Shearer slams Tottenham star over ‘lack of fight’ after FA Cup exit

Alan Shearer has singled out Son Heung-min for criticism after Tottenham were knocked out of the FA Cup by Aston Villa. Spurs’ horrific season went from bad to worse last week as they exited both domestic cup competitions, starting with a 4-0 thrashing at Liverpool in the Carabao Cup semi-final. On Sunday, a 2-1 loss at Villa Park heaped even more pressure on Ange Postecoglou whose side have also won just two and lost eight of their last 12 Premier League games, leaving them 14th in the table.

There’s just the Europa League to play for now but it remains to be seen if Postecoglou will survive till the end of the season, with several top-flight managers tipped to replace the Australian. Tottenham are enduring a severe injury crisis, which has forced Postecoglou to consistently field inexperienced teenagers like Mikey Moore and Archie Gray, but Shearer believes it is the older players who are not delivering.

‘It’s the experienced ones that you’re asking for a little bit more from,’ the Newcastle legend said on The Rest is Football podcast. ‘More from [Rodrigo] Bentancur, more from Dejan Kulusevski, more from Son the captain – he missed a sitter in the first-half. ‘But you want them to step up a little bit more because out of these last two or three months I think the youngsters have shone more than anything and that’s a great credit to them but there’s a complete and utter lack of confidence and at times a lack of fight.

‘I was expecting some reaction after Thursday’s game against Liverpool after they got fairly criticised. They didn’t have a shot at goal and didn’t put in a shift at all at Anfield. ‘I was expecting them to come out in the first 10 or 15 minutes and give it a right good go, whereas it took till the second-half for them to do that and that would be worrying for me.’. Son was named Spurs skipper following Hugo Lloris and Harry Kane’s departures in 2023 but the forward looks nothing like his past self, recording just six Premier League goals this season.

He had a game to forget at Villa Park, missing a glorious opportunity to equalise in the first-half and when presented with another good chance after the break, opted to pass to Yves Bissouma instead of shooting himself. ‘Son’s not really playing with the confidence we’ve seen of old, just taking so many touches,’ former Manchester City defender Micah Richards said. ‘I was thinking to myself, “he’s surely not going to pass here”. Son of old would have took a touch and bent that into the corner.’.

‘A Son full of confidence would have moved that one touch out his feet and shot or the little step over or whatever,’ Shearer added. ‘There’s no way when he’s scoring goals and full of confidence that he’s even thinking of passing that.’. Tottenham need to get back to winning ways and fast, and will have the chance to do so when they host fellow strugglers Manchester United on Sunday. For more stories like this, check our sport page.