Tottenham Hotspur lost 1-0 away at Manchester United on Saturday afternoon.
Pundit Alan Shearer has criticised Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino for leaving Davinson Sanchez and Fernando Llorente out of his side to face Manchester United, as seen on Match of the Day (28/10/2017).
Spurs travelled to Old Trafford on Saturday in search of a fifth straight Premier League win, but were dented in the lead-up to the game with star striker Harry Kane ruled out through a hamstring injury.
Tottenham played their part in a closely-fought game, and just moments after Dele Alli missed a great chance from close range, United went down the other end and snatched all three points thanks to Anthony Martial’s goal.
Fernando Llorente of Tottenham Hotspur and Phil Jones of Manchester United battle for possession
Spurs will have been disappointed to have conceded a late goal, and manager Pochettino may now have some regrets over his line-up at Old Trafford.
Pochettino surprisingly took Davinson Sanchez out of his team despite the Colombian’s impressive displays since arriving from Ajax, preferring to go with Eric Dier as one of his three centre backs.
Even with Kane’s absence, Pochettino decided not to give centre forward Fernando Llorente his first Premier League start for Tottenham, instead using winger Son Heung-min in attack.
After the game, pundit Alan Shearer criticised Pochettino for both decisions, telling Match of the Day (28/10/2017), that he was amazed that Llorente didn’t start having been brought in solely for the purpose of filling in for Kane if he is missing, whilst was also stunned that Sanchez didn’t play after fine recent displays.
“I was very surprised today that he didn’t play Llorente,” said Shearer. “You pay a lot of money to bring him in because of the situation with Harry Kane when he’s injured, so I was amazed he didn’t start him.”
“Also, Davinson Sanchez didn’t play either, which was a big surprise as he’s been doing reasonably well,” he added.
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