He was playing as a Kane stand-in. I can't remember whether he was an AM, winger or CF or false 9, but he was our main goal scoring threat. A role he performed admirably.
Yet the common perception was that Lucas was standing in for Kane (he's since been shifted back on the right, with Steevie to the left now Son is out)... Until injury; positionally, Sonny was repeatedly found wide left as usual .
In general Son's main purpose is scoring and creating. Not tackles made or ground covered or all the other spurious stats we use to judge a players performance.
No matter how poor the rest of his performance was against Villa (and it was pretty poor) he scored twice and that's all that I'll measure him by.
Of course it matters; different positions have different responsibilities.
As an AM/winger he's called upon; like you say to help create, but to also link up with others and track back as necessary.... That may not fit your preferred outlook but it is what it is.
Dele's biggest detractors say that unless he's scoring he's useless.... Is it not entirely reasonable to scrutinise Sonny in a similar fashion?
As already stated, in that run of games his goals were masking what was otherwise some pretty poor performances.
BTW I don't mean literally sitting in a deckchair, I'd expect him to take the odd throw in or corner.
Obviously.... I'm not that obtuce.
By the same token a goal doesn't mean you're not required to meet the remaining requirements of your position for the remaining 89minutes.