The real reason that Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino left star defenders Kieran Trippier and Toby Alderweireld behind for their Champions League defeat to Inter Milan was due to their fitness regimes, according to football.london.
The right back and centre back were shock omissions from the side travelling to the San Siro for what turned out to be a dramatic 2-1 win for the home side, with Pochettino putting it down as a “technical decision” when probed about their absence.
However, the football news website claim that the technical side of things came down to the pair’s recovery programmes set by the Argentine boss and his staff, which are in place to help them get to full fitness, and that the match against Inter would have set them back.
Opinion
How Pochettino will be wishing he could turn back the clock and take Trippier and Alderweireld to Italy in midweek. The Lilywhites lost the game thanks to five minutes where the players’ focus was lacking, and perhaps with his star defenders on the pitch such an issue would not have been a problem. However, hindsight is 20/20 and it is something he must learn from. Would the duo really have been impacted that much in terms of their fitness by playing in Italy? Perhaps, but with a clash against Brighton up next, which Spurs will feel quietly confident about, surely that was the game in which to rotate some of his big names out and give the likes of Serge Aurier the game time he is looking for. Now their Champions League campaign is off to a bad start and they will be climbing a hill trying to recover from it. Arguably a mistake on Pochettino’s behalf. and one you can be sure he will not be making again.