Fernando Llorente came off the bench over the weekend to help Tottenham Hotspur secure a narrow win against Newcastle United.
Sky Sports pundit Stuart Pearce has claimed that Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino is hiding the real reason why he benched striker Fernando Llorente for their win against Newcastle on Saturday.
The former England defender believes the 33-year-old star, who had started the previous four matches for Spurs, had been left out by Pochettino ‘in a guise’ that he is being rested when he really wasn’t.
During that Premier League clash against the Magpies, Llorente was brought on as a second-half substitute as his lay off assisted Heung-min Son for the only goal of the game [BBC Sport].
Nonetheless, Pearce offered his thoughts on Llorente not being picked from the get-go against Newcastle as he shared the real reason why this happens.
“The best players don’t get rested, Messi, Ronaldo, Harry Kane,” Pearce told Sky Sports News on 04/02/2019. “They wheel out performances. Go to Liverpool, when are you going to rest Van Dijk?
“The longer the season goes on, the longer you wheel out your better players and build up an intolerance to fatigue by the games they play.
“It’s the periphery players that are not quite there maybe get rested and left out. And I think they get left out in a guise that they are being rested. But in many ways, the best players always play.”
Harry Kane’s injury against Manchester United last month, added with Dele Alli’s injury against Fulham, pushed Llorente further up the pecking order in terms of starting games.
Since the attacking duo’s absence, he has played five games in all competitions, scoring two goals and providing his teammates with two assists, according to transfermarkt.
There are a number of big games coming up for the north London outfit, none other than their Champions League first-leg knockout encounter against Borussia Dortmund next Wednesday.
But before that, they will host Claude Puel’s Leicester City on home soil this Sunday as they look to maintain their top three place in the table.
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