The Spurs boss rested in-form Heung-min Son and left out Danny Rose, Mousa Dembele and Eric Dier.
Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has defended his controversial team selection for the Premier League clash with West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, as quoted by the club’s Twitter account.
Spurs returned from the international break with a clash against the Baggies at the Hawthorns with many of his players having played at least once for their country.
The North London club will now embark on a busy period of games over the next three weeks or so, and Pochettino is likely to have to use all corners of his squad.
With that in mind, the Argentine boss has defended his team selection for the clash with Albion, which saw him drop in-form forward Heung-min Son in favour of a recall for Vincent Janssen, as well as leaving out the likes of Danny Rose, Mousa Dembele and Eric Dier.
Pochettino said: “We have seven games in 23 days and we always need to be right with our decisions. This team is the right XI to compete against West Brom.
“We must rotate if we are to arrive fresh and compete in very game. Maybe I’m boring but players aren’t machines. They’ve tried a lot on international duty and after that, it’s up to us to assess how they are and select the best starting XI.”
The most debated decision will undoubtedly be the call to drop Son, who has been on fire with five goals in six games this season, for the struggling Janssen.
However, Janssen scored a superb goal for the Netherlands in midweek and Pochettino is clearly hoping that the 22-year-old will be able to use that as a catalyst to kickstart his Spurs career.
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