An article by ESPN says Mauricio Pochettino hailed Tottenham’s squad depth after Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Newport County in the FA Cup fourth-round replay at Wembley.
No fewer than 10 changes were made from the 2-2 draw at Liverpool on Sunday, but he was still able to name a side with internationals Serge Aurier, Victor Wanyama and Moussa Sissoko while first team stars Toby Alderweireld, Danny Rose and Harry Winks all returned from injury.
“It’s important for many players to have the possibility to play,”: Pochettino said. “It’s tough to find a place [for them] to play because the team is doing well. Today was a great opportunity for different players like Toby, Danny, Harry Winks to start to play games and start to compete. It’s completely different to training.
He added: “You know now we have 24 players and it will be tough to find a place in the starting XI for everyone. Twenty-four players all trying to get a start in every single game. I think it’s a very good thing for us. We are going to increase our level and in that very busy period we need all focus on trying to give their best.”
The article adds that Pochettino was asked if Alderweireld, Winks and Rose, had come through the match unscathed, Pochettino said: “We are going to assess them now and have the communication from the medical staff. Of course we will have all the information and tomorrow we will assess everyone.”
Man of the Match Erik Lamela, who returned after a 13-month injury absence in November, scored his first goal since Sept. 2016 shortly after Dan Butler’s 26th-minute own goal had given us the lead. Pochettino said the winger could be even better than before his injury.
“Always it’s important to feel the net for offensive players and for him to play 90 minutes. I think it’s a very important feeling for him. It’s important because he’s an important player,” Pochettino said.
He added: “Of course it was a massive [injury] problem — more than one year out. Never it’s easy to come back and perform as he was before. But sure before he love football, and he loves to train, I think his mentality is fantastic. I think he is going to find it easy to recover his real level, or improve because he is more mature and you learn in a tough moment a lot. No doubt.”
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