Tottenham Hotspur have not enjoyed their best start to a Premier League season this year, with a shock loss to Newcastle sticking out as the low point.
Spurs are already five points behind the league leaders Liverpool and three behind the reigning champions, Man City.
Mauricio Pochettino has also taken the decision to drop Christian Eriksen from the starting line up, despite him being the first-choice playmaker since arriving from Ajax.
Eriksen started against Man City, but only came on as a sub in the last half an hour against both Aston Villa and Newcastle.
This comes after the Great Dane revealed that he wanted to leave Spurs in search of a new challenge and a step up in the summer (Ekstra Bladet).
With the window about to slam shut, Eriksen remains a Tottenham player, with no concrete reported bids coming in for the creator.
Pochettino has now implied that he has been dropping the star due to the fact that it may annoy his teammates who want to be at the club.
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Poch said (Sun): “People will say: ‘Why are you playing Christian?’
“The team-mates can say: ‘Why are you playing Christian if the rumour is he’s going to leave? Gaffer, why am I not playing when Christian wants to leave, is looking to go away?’
“In this situation, there are plenty of things that happen inside that I cannot translate to you and you to our fans.
“The only way of working hard and being all together is trusting in us, in our decision, in our judgement.
“People need to trust.
“If we make the decision that he’s going to play it’s because we believe he can perform in the way that we expect or we need him to perform.
“If some people have more information to make that decision, it’s us.
“The first person interested in winning Sunday or last Sunday is the manager, because I need to put my face in front of you and explain why.
“The most important is to trust in our judgement. We are not always right, we make a lot of mistakes. We are humble enough to recognise our mistakes.”
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