Mauricio Pochettino Hits Back Over Claims Tottenham Stars Are Unhappy Over Game Time
Mauricio Pochettino has warned his Tottenham players not to forget that he is "the boss" after Danny Rose's latest comments over his lack of minutes on the pitch.
The Spurs full-back admitted that he had been left "fuming" after he was left out of the starting lineup for last Saturday's north London derby defeat against Arsenal, and other reports have alleged that some players are unhappy at not featuring more often under Pochettino.
However, the Argentine fired back at the press during a media conference (via the Daily Mail) on Thursday and stated that his stars should be disappointed not to be featuring more often for the Lilywhites as it means that they aren't resting on their laurels.
He said: "Ask me about [Rose] or Georges-Kevin N'Koudou, who wasn't involved, or Paulo Gazzaniga or Kieran Trippier or Ben Davies. If you say they were upset? Of course. They were disappointed? Of course. They were angry, fuming?
"Of course because they want to play, Michel Vorm the same. But I am the boss. That is the problem for the players."
"Always when you take decisions about the starting 11 and the 18 players in the squad, the players that are not in the squad and who are not involved and not playing regularly are not happy. But that is normal."
One Tottenham ace who has not tasted any first-team action in the past year is Eric Lamela. The forward has stepped up his recovery from a long-term injury in recent weeks with a number of training sessions and a couple of run outs for the club's Under-23s side.
Pochettino added that the 25-year-old could force his way into the reckoning for a place on the bench against West Brom this weekend, but was mindful of rushing Lamela back quickly after so long out.
He said: "If [he's not ready] then we decide maybe for him to play in the under 23s. It's true that we have a lot of games ahead now; Saturday, Tuesday and then the weekend again. We'll see, we'll see.
"I hope that it's going well with him and his mind and he feels that confidence to be available again to play."
