I want to collect your opinion as a South Korean

[FRoggy]

Hello from South Korea

Nowadays, in Korean football community, there's a debate about 'Who is better between Park (former Man U) and Son (Tottenham Hotspur)?'
Even though Son's performance these days is quite good, I think personally Park is better than Son. However, people who prefer Son argues that Son has ever won the player of the month, and scored some decisive goals in many matches.
I agree Son is kinda good player, but cannot agree on the concept 'Son is better than Park' or 'Son has already excelled Park'.
What do you think of it? I will appreciate all your comments.
Thank you

 

[markwwfc1992]

Son is better

 

[Renegade]

Park. He has marked some of the best players out of games in Champions League knockout ties and he was part of a much better team. Man of the match against Barcelona in 2008, when United were at their absolute peak and Barcelona were entering theirs. Knocked Arsenal of the the competition a year later. Knocked Chelsea out of the competition in 2011. Marked Pirlo out of a game on his own. When it came to the Champions League, he transformed into a super-Kanté. He almost always showed up for the big games in the Premier League too despite not being a permanent starter. Ferguson routinely called upon him in big Premier League games to stifle the opponents and he pretty much always delivered, he's one of the best big game players United have ever had. I don't think Son touches him in this regard.

Son will grab the attention as a more attacking player, great skill, scores beautiful goals. It's a close debate, though hard to tell when they played in such different roles. Son has recency bias in his favour and he has a lot left to offer in his career.

 

[johnnytodd]

Park easily.

 

[G.B]

Park. Don't even think there's a debate to be had tbh. Greatest Asian player ever imo. Kagawa, Nakata, Son, Honda, Okazaki, Nakamura etc. he's had a better career and achieved far more than all of them up to this point, including a trip to a Word Cup semi final (even though the matches were clearly fixed), 100 caps, numerous club honours, scored in 3 world cups, one of the most important players at England's biggest club for a number of years. Great career and an excellent player.

 

[piézo]

Park is the best South Korean I saw playing. Son is not bad but not Park tier.

 

[mistermagic]

Don't think you can compare both. Park was an attacking winger but he was able to play centrally in his later years which is where he peaked. Will Son be able to do that? One can never be sure. I'd say Son is the better winger but Park has many more arrows in his quiver than Son does.

 

[Son of Cod]

오! 한국사람? 안녕하세요 어서오세요 1FF에. 요즘에 서울어때요? 2012년~2016년에 광명 살았어서 한국말 조금 할수있어요...하지만 잘못해요 ㅋㅋㅋㅋ 국어이야기하고싶어고 쓰기 연습 필여해요. 혹시 K-League 조하요?

Park. He has marked some of the best players out of games in Champions League knockout ties and he was part of a much better team. Man of the match against Barcelona in 2008, when United were at their absolute peak and Barcelona were entering theirs. Knocked Arsenal of the the competition a year later. Knocked Chelsea out of the competition in 2011. Marked Pirlo out of a game on his own. When it came to the Champions League, he transformed into a super-Kanté. He almost always showed up for the big games in the Premier League too despite not being a permanent starter. Ferguson routinely called upon him in big Premier League games to stifle the opponents and he pretty much always delivered, he's one of the best big game players United have ever had. I don't think Son touches him in this regard.

Son will grab the attention as a more attacking player, great skill, scores beautiful goals. It's a close debate, though hard to tell when they played in such different roles. Son has recency bias in his favour and he has a lot left to offer in his career.

Interesting that you mention Pirlo, have you read Pirlo's autobiography? There's an incredibly scathing paragraph on Park, which completely contrasts to what you're saying and it's something that has stuck in my memory...

"Even Sir Alex Ferguson, the purple-nosed manager who turned Manchester United into a fearsome battleship, couldn’t resist the temptation. He's a man without blemish, but he ruined that purity just for a moment when it came to me. A fleeting shabbiness came over the legend that night. At Milan, he unleashed Park Ji-Sung to shadow me. He rushed about at the speed of an electron. He'd fling himself at me, his hands all over my back, trying to intimidate me. He'd look at the ball and not know what it was for. They'd programmed him to stop me. His devotion to the task was almost touching. Even though he was a famous player, he consented to being used as a guard dog"

...I don't remember this encounter or if there were other Park vs Pirlo games. Pirlo is a bit like Zlatan in the gusto he reserves for his own skills in that book, so I wouldn't have put it past him to be elaborating here.

But with regards to the Son vs Park question, I can only really echo what has been said already. Difficult to compare them due to excelling in different positions. Park was also more of a complete/mature player when he came to the the Premier League, if I remember rightly? Son was very raw and still is in many ways. He gives the ball away a lot and makes poor decisions every game, however this is happening less and less and he's arguably been the most improved player in the entire division this season. I know Lamela is injured right now, but Son's form this season has basically deemed him surplus to requirements. If Son continues to improve at this rate, then he will go on to be one of, if not the, greatest Korean players (which admittedly...general consensus is that this is Park at the moment) of all time. However, mm raises a very valid point about what Son will do later on in his career when his injection of pace isn't quite there. Whether or not he will be able to adapt his game is a huge question. I love Son though, he is really exciting to watch, as he was in Bundesliga too. Yesterday the pace at which he was breaking with was immense. Also seems absolutely delighted to be playing at Spurs, which is nice to see.

 

[Renegade]

오! 한국사람? 안녕하세요 어서오세요 1FF에. 요즘에 서울어때요? 2012년~2016년에 광명 살았어서 한국말 조금 할수있어요...하지만 잘못해요 ㅋㅋㅋㅋ 국어이야기하고싶어고 쓰기 연습 필여해요. 혹시 K-League 조하요?


Interesting that you mention Pirlo, have you read Pirlo's autobiography? There's an incredibly scathing paragraph on Park, which completely contrasts to what you're saying and it's something that has stuck in my memory...

"Even Sir Alex Ferguson, the purple-nosed manager who turned Manchester United into a fearsome battleship, couldn’t resist the temptation. He's a man without blemish, but he ruined that purity just for a moment when it came to me. A fleeting shabbiness came over the legend that night. At Milan, he unleashed Park Ji-Sung to shadow me. He rushed about at the speed of an electron. He'd fling himself at me, his hands all over my back, trying to intimidate me. He'd look at the ball and not know what it was for. They'd programmed him to stop me. His devotion to the task was almost touching. Even though he was a famous player, he consented to being used as a guard dog"

...I don't remember this encounter or if there were other Park vs Pirlo games. Pirlo is a bit like Zlatan in the gusto he reserves for his own skills in that book, so I wouldn't have put it past him to be elaborating here.

Haha, I haven't read his book, but I've heard the quote before. Park pretty much did an exemplary job of playing destroyer, he didn't give Pirlo a sniff. I don't think Pirlo thinks much of non-flair players, though I doubt he would have had the same complaints when Gattuso did the same thing to opposing creative players alongside him. Anyone that remembers that game will tell you Park was the standout player, apart from poor Andrea.