Mauricio Pochettino gave a near five-minute reply to reporters regarding the future of Toby Alderweireld and even touched on the history of English football.
Tottenham defeated Fulham in a London derby, thanks to goals from Lucas Moura, Harry Kane and Kieran Trippier. However, Pochettino was quoted by the BBC while speaking about the players that don’t get minutes under their belt.
“Players that don’t play need to wait until I am sacked or go elsewhere to find a solution.
“I am so open if players want to leave, but if they are going to be here I want all commitment, if not we can find a solution.
“I am so tired to talk about if some players aren’t happy or some players want to leave. Of course every player if they don’t play will be disappointed.”
When the Argentine was asked about the future of Alderweireld, he veered the discussion in another direction as he spoke about why the English did not play football with 24 players and also touched upon basketball substitutes.
“Why didn’t the English people in the past put 24 players on the pitch? Why is the squad 25 players if you can only play 11?
“Why not, like basketball, that you can change every minute? Why not like in Italy when you all can be on the bench and don’t have a list of 18?”
Alderweireld was linked with a move away from Tottenham all summer (h/t BBC) but played in our win over Fulham.
Tottenham did not buy any players in the transfer window and with Alderweireld’s future one of the topics of the summer, some Spurs fans shared their views on Poch’s outburst.
I think he’s gone a little bit crazy. Seems to be making better decisions though, so who cares.
— Paula (@PaulaL1882) August 18, 2018
Think Poch is going to be tougher with them all this season,maybe thats whats needed to get us to win a trophy
— SpurAndy (@spurandy69) August 18, 2018
Basically I think he’s saying he makes the decisions. And noone tells him what to do. So, if the media/fans criticise him for something or the players complain or the board tells him to do something, he wont do it just because he’s pressured. At the end, he makes his decisions.
— amal mukundan (@amal_imhere) August 19, 2018
I don’t want to talk about it. Then talks about it for 6 minutes 🤣
— Paul O Keefe (@pokeefe1) August 18, 2018
Clear as mud
— Adam (@therealflannerz) August 18, 2018
Read more: Mauricio Pochettino set to send 21-year-old Spurs starlet on loan again