Football
9y

Mauricio Pochettino: Squad rotation not to blame for Tottenham loss

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino declined to blame his squad rotation policy for Spurs' 2-1 defeat to Leicester in the FA Cup on Saturday.

Pochettino showed a much-changed lineup at White Hart Lane, retaining just two players who started the midweek Capital One Cup semifinal win over Sheffield United, but he offered no excuses for the defeat.

"This [rotation] is our way since the beginning of our season, and I do not think this is a reason to justify the result," the Argentine said.

There was late drama in stoppage time when Spurs goalkeeper Michel Vorm allowed a scuffed shot from Jeff Schlupp to squirm over the line for Leicester's winner, and Tottenham found themselves out of the cup despite being in control of the game for over 80 minutes.

"It's very disappointing, I'm a little bit upset," Pochettino said. "When you analyse the game we deserved more. During the game we played well but you need to kill the game because in the second half we created chances, but always we gave the opposition the opportunity to stay alive.

"The last 10 minutes we've made some mistakes and we are out of the FA Cup and for that I am very disappointed."

Pochettino did defend Vorm after his late error but couldn't guarantee the Dutch international would retain his place for Wednesday's second leg in the Capital One Cup in Sheffield.

"This is football," the manager said. "Sometimes you make a mistake. Michel has experience and in football we need to keep him working to fix these mistakes."

Information from Press Association was used in this report.

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