Danny Rose dismisses talk of a bust-up with Pochettino after North London Derby

Early in the week, the big TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR IN CRISIS story centered around Danny Rose and his fury about being left out of the match day 18 squad for the North London Derby. An article in the paper-that-shalt-not-be-named claimed that Rose was “fuming” over being snubbed for the match against Arsenal, and then used it as a crowbar to further the supposed rift between Rose and his manager, Mauricio Pochettino.

Turns out: Rose was pretty mad! But only because he’s a competitive guy, and not because he’s ready to rage-quit Spurs. In the wake of Tottenham’s Champions League group-clinching win over Dortmund at the Westfalenstadion yesterday, Rose clarified his state of mind, and his relationship with Pochettino.

"There was no argument, no bust-up. I was fuming, yes, but it should be obvious any player should be unhappy that they're not involved in the biggest game of the season.

"There was no falling out or bust-up. I trained on Saturday and it looked like the right decision from the manager. The manager just explained that he thought it'd be better for me to do a hard session on Saturday, which I did.

"I did that. I understand that there's been a lot of reports but it's not welcomed, and it's not true, and whether I'd been at the Emirates or not, I think everybody's losing sight that I couldn't have stopped the referee or linesman from making bad decisions that led to us conceding.

"Me and the manager have not fallen out, not had an argument. I was angry about not being involved in the squad, but at the same time, I understand and I respect his views.''

So, not to toot my own horn here, but this was pretty much my hypothesis. Danny Rose being mad about being left out of the team against Tottenham’s biggest rivals in the North London Derby is completely reasonable and something you would expect from a player as competitive and driven as he is.

The source article sure made hay out of that point! But what it failed to dig into is whether those feelings of anger were being channeled in a constructive way by Rose, and it certainly appears that it was! Danny started and played 90 minutes in Spurs’ win over Dortmund, and was one of the best performers on the team. You could almost say it was his “welcome back” party.

So, much ado about not very much, I suppose. I guess it’s natural that this story arises, and will probably continue to arise, thanks to his explosive interview this summer. It still feels like Danny has a little ways to go before he jumps back ahead of Ben Davies as a first choice left back, but it certainly seems that Poch gave him the motivation to accelerate his fitness and get back into contention.