Tottenham Hotspur's return to Champions League action ended in success as they defeated Ligue 1 side Marseille on Wednesday night but not everything was rosy.

The ten-man French outfit frustrated Spurs for much of the game before the Lilywhites managed to break the deadlock 14 minutes from time after Richarlison headed home a cross from Ivan Perisic before topping that feat with an even better effort just five minutes later, this time at the back post from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg's ball in.

And it was another off-night from Heung-min Son, who continues to earn the trust of manager Antonio Conte despite being horribly out of form right now.

He lasted 86 minutes before being withdrawn for Matt Doherty and although the game was already won by that point, it was the influence of Dejan Kuliusevski from the bench, the Brazilian bagsman and the decisive duo of Perisic and Hojbjerg that won Spurs the game.

Son, meanwhile, struggled immensely.

'Still looks worryingly short of sharpness and confidence, and a miss-hit shot in the second half was met by groans,' wrote the Evening Standard's Dan Kilpatrick in his post-match ratings column, where he graded the South Korean sensation a lowly 5/10 - the worst of any Lilywhites star.

Indeed, it's easy to see why as none of his two shots were on target, nor did he manage a single successful dribble and he failed to provide an accurate cross from three attempts, as per SofaScore.

Son also lost 75% of his duels, both aerially and on the ground, further highlighting his lack of influence in the game as he was dominated by OM's defensive line, barring Chancel Mbemba, who received his marching orders for a late tackle on the 30-year-old star.

Elsewhere, the £43m-rated lightweight lost possession the most of any Spurs player (17 times) from only 46 touches and made just 76% of his passing attempts.

As such, it's clear that Son let his manager down at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as the Italian continues to put his faith in selecting him, though now both Richarlison and Kulusevski have given Conte plenty to think about.

It's the defending champions - Manchester City - on Saturday evening and it would be a surprise to see the former Bayer Leverkusen ace in the starting lineup. He should be dropped following another disappointing outing.

AND in other news, Spurs look to have a real "diamond" in 18 y/o "star boy", it's a Paratici masterstroke...