Danny Rose admits substitution was 'right decision' following initial frustrations in Tottenham win
The 27-year-old was forced off in the 3-0 win over Apoel Nicosia with an eye injury and struck a visibly frustrated figure at being substituted by manager Mauricio Pochettino
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Your support makes all the difference.Danny Rose has admitted that Mauricio Pochettino’s decision to sub him off during Tottenham’s win over Apoel Nicosia on Wednesday night was “probably the right decision”.
The 27-year-old was forced off in the 70th minute with an eye injury and struck a visibly frustrated figure at being substituted, with youngster Kyle Walker-Peters stepping in at full-back.
Rose proceeded to march straight down the Wembley tunnel, raising further questions of a rift between the player and Pochettino.
But the defender conceded after the match that it was the right decision and one that will now allow him to recover for Tottenham’s fixture with Stoke this Saturday.
"I wasn't happy but I could tell from the manager's reaction that I had to come off," he said.
"He said straight away: 'you're coming off', and I was disappointed but it's probably the right decision and hopefully I can recover now and be part of the squad on the weekend."
Pochettino similarly played down Rose’s reaction.
"Players are never happy when they are going out," Pochettino told BT Sport.
"He had a big cut and the doctors said he needed a stitch and it was impossible to play on. Of course the player was frustrated because it was Champions League, but nothing wrong."
Rose also said after victory on Wednesday that Tottenham must now focus on improving their league form after qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League.
"It's nice that the Champions League is over for a month or two now and we have to get our Premier League form back on track because we've not been good enough recently," said Rose.
"We're looking forward to concentrating on that and climbing the league.
"We know in the changing that we have not been good enough, we've not started games well enough but we have every belief that we can put that right this weekend."
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