Fringe players frustration

Mauricio Pochettino has hinted that he will have second thoughts about fielding a weakened team again this season after Tottenham only scraped past League Two Wycombe Wanderers in the FA Cup.

Pochettino, whose Spurs side travel to Sunderland in the Premier League on Tuesday night, made nine changes to the team which started against Manchester City last weekend.

But his decision to rest a number of high-profile players nearly backfired after Wycombe appeared on course to seal a famous victory.

Substitute Dele Alli however, equalised with seconds remaining in normal time before Son Heung-min spared Tottenham’s blushes with his 97th-minute winner.

Asked if he would embrace a similar rotation policy in the Europa League later this season, Pochettino said: “We will see. It’s not clear. The first half was very difficult. We need to assess why, and to analyse.

“If you play against Wycombe, a League Two club, it is true that is difficult because of their motivation and their excitement is massive.

“But I think we need to stop a little bit and say, ‘why not play one or another’? When you play Tottenham, you play Tottenham, and when you sign a player for your squad you need to be available to play and of enough quality to play in this type of game.”

Pochettino, who hopes to have striker Harry Kane available for their trip to the Stadium of Light, added: “We have a few players with some risk of getting injured and you need to rest because you cannot compete now, on Tuesday at Sunderland and then on Saturday against Middlesbrough.

“You need, and we need the fans need to understand, that we cannot always play the same team, the same 11 players, because they are not machines. They are human.”