Tottenham will be without five players for their Champions League opener against Inter Milan. ESPN reports that Dele Alli, Moussa Sissoko and Hugo Lloris are all out injured.
And Mauricio Pochettino revealed that Toby Alderweireld and Keiran Trippier were left out of the side for technical reasons.
Speaking to the press on Monday, the manager said (h/t ESPN):
“We still have out Hugo Lloris, Dele Alli and Moussa Sissoko. They are in London.
“Then a technical decision in London — Toby Alderweireld and Kieran Trippier.”
Trippier and Alderweireld played in the 2-1 loss against Liverpool on Saturday. Pochettino claimed that the players weren’t being punished but were dropped to provide them with some rest.
“It’s a technical decision. You can look it up in the dictionary.
“You are clever enough to understand that … I never punish players. The plan is to leave them there and use different players tomorrow. There’s nothing in behind it.
“We have ahead of a lot of games. We came from difficult circumstances with the World Cup. We have a plan to give different players a rest in all competitions.”
Tottenham have a difficult Champions League group to navigate with Barcelona the other big side to deal with.
Spurs haven’t been convincing in the previous games against Liverpool and Watford with 2-1 losses in both ties. Inter will be a difficult challenge at San Siro and Pochettino must work wonders to field a quality side.
Not playing Alderweireld and Trippier is a little confusing, given they are two of our best players. But Pochettino knows what he is doing and it will be interesting to see how the match ends tonight.
