The Tottenham Hotspur left-back could have made the difference against Manchester United.
Tottenham Hotspur were always going to use Danny Rose sparingly in the first few weeks after his return from injury, but they missed a trick not starting him against Manchester United.
The England international did feature for 81 minutes of the ill-fated EFL Cup clash with West Ham United last week. However Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino would have been better off waiting and giving Rose a full run out in the vital clash at Old Trafford.
The rumours persist that the 27-year-old could be on his way to United for good after his ill-fated interview made headlines for all the wrong reasons earlier this year, and the Express recently published comments from from former Tottenham boss Tim Sherwood suggesting as much.
But either way he would have been a missing spark for a Tottenham team that lacked enough creativity in the absence of top-scorer Harry Kane.
If Rose really does have his heart set on a move to United – and only he knows for certain – the Tottenham left-back would have surely delivered on Saturday in an attempt to prove his worth to Jose Mourinho.
And if he has every intention of remaining in North London for the long haul, here was the ideal opportunity for him to shine, proving that unlikely heroes can emerge in the absence of the usual suspects.
Instead Rose sat, unused, on the bench and one wonders what might have been if he had been called on from the start, especially as he was deemed fit enough to play practically the entire match against West Ham in a game with far less ramifications than this one.
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