'Son no longer seems to be indispensable to Spurs'

It was not long ago that substituting forward Son Heung-min while chasing a winner was unthinkable for Tottenham.

However, in the 87th minute against Eintracht Frankfurt, a match the club's own announcer called the "most important game of the season", the South Korea international was taken off for teenage forward Mathys Tel.

The decision by manager Ange Postecoglou was entirely justified as the 32-year-old struggled to impact the game.

From the eye test this season, Son is simply not looking as quick or as sharp as before, therefore, is unable to make runs in behind defences or shift the ball half a yard to score.

Eintracht forward Hugo Ekitike did a Son-like run and shot to open the scoring in the sixth minute before Pedro Porro equalised in the 26th minute.

But Spurs could not get the goal they deserved and Eintracht Frankfurt manager Dino Toppmoller admitted to being a bit "lucky" after the match, adding: "We had their wingers mostly under control."

Postecoglou felt the substitutes made a good impact.

There is no doubt that Son is a Spurs legend as he made his 67th appearance to match Harry Kane at the top of the charts in appearances for the club in Europe.

Yet, unlike Kane, his impact is waning as his speed deserts him.

It is now just one goal in his past 17 games, which was a penalty at home to Bournemouth, and Son no longer seems to be indispensable to Spurs.