Tottenham Hotspur faced a must win game in the Champions League last night, and did just that as they defeated Inter Milan 1-0.
Spurs needed all three points, and the 1-0 score line meant they leapt above their Italian group mates on their head to head record via away goals.
Pochettino decided to make changes ahead of the key tie, which may have raised some eyebrows among viewers.
His side came into the game off the back of an impressive thrashing of Chelsea at the weekend, with two stars of the show being Heung Min Son and Christian Eriksen.
However, in this must win fixture, both stars were left on the bench.
Unfortunately for Spurs, they have yet another tough fixture this weekend, with the North London derby coming at the worst possible time.
Pochettino decided to rotate his squad to protect the players and give his side the best possible chance of winning both matches.
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Football London report he said: “I cannot play with 13 players. One thing I don’t like in football is that rule. Maybe we need to change to rolling subs, like basketball, so you can go in and out. If you have time I think you need to see our fixtures.
“When we started against Chelsea we were going to play 12 games in 40 days – that means we will play every three days. To do that, there’s no player – maybe the keeper – who can play in the 12 games. The most important thing is to try to avoid risk, mix the team with different players and rotate so all players feel important.
“After four and a half years at Tottenham, I’m always fighting with the same question, because when we don’t play with one or another it’s like we don’t play as Tottenham. For me, it’s about the collective.
“When we sign players and you decided to have 24-25 players in the squad, it’s so difficult to only give the possibility to play with 11, 12 or 13. You need to give the possibility they deserve. The players understand we need to take decisions.
“If we win, we’re right. If we lose, we’re wrong. I’d like to change that mentality in football – ‘why play one or another?’ We, the coaches and the managers, are the first who have the interest to win the games.
“We spend 12 hours every day with the players and we take the decisions of course we’re not always going to be right and we accept all the opinions. But we take what we believe to be the best decisions for the team, because we care for the team. and the players.”
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