Is the Denmark boss taking an unncessary gamble with Tottenham Hotspur star Christian Eriksen?
In the scheme of things, Tottenham Hotspur have a massive eight-day period on the horizon. Spurs host Premier League title rivals Chelsea on November 24, before then welcoming Inter Milan to Wembley in a must-win Champions League encounter four days later.
And then there’s the small matter of a North London derby with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on December 2 to kick off a very hectic month.
Those three games are massive for Tottenham and manager Mauricio Pochettino will want his best players available – including Christian Eriksen.
With that in mind, you could forgive Pochettino if he shook his head in disappointment after hearing comments from Denmark boss Age Hareide, who is refusing to rest Eriksen for tomorrow’s Nations League clash with the Republic of Ireland.
He told The Daily Mail: “Christian will play from the start tomorrow.
“The intention is that he’s going to play. In this case, we have to sort of nurse him as much as possible. That means he probably won’t be staying on for 90 minutes.”
There’s nothing wrong with an international manager also using his best players, but there is something questionable about using them in a dead rubber of a contest.
Tomorrow’s clash in Aarhus is of little consequence to the Danes, who are already guaranteed at least a playoff spot to reach Euro 2020 after beating Wales on Friday.
And if the result doesn’t matter then neither does Eriksen’s involvement. If the former Ajax man – who recently missed a month of action through injury – were to fall victim to a tackle which rules him out of Tottenham’s upcoming fixtures then Pochettino and every Spurs fan would be fuming.
And rightly so.
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