FA Cup: Players deserve to rest, says Pochettino

Tottenham boss to field new faces in third-round clash against Leicester

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino admitted he would allow most of the regular first-team players to rest for the FA Cup third-round clash against Leicester City on Sunday, but insists that he will respect the competition despite the focus being on the league.

“It’s not a distraction; the FA Cup is the oldest competition in the world,” said the Argentine, according to Sky Sports. “We respect the competition a lot. We have a strong squad. It’s true we come off a very busy period in Christmas. But it’s a good opportunity for some players who cannot play consistently in the Premier League to show their quality.”

Mousa Dembele, Alex Pritchard and Clinton Njie remain sidelined due to injuries but Nacer Chadli, Danny Rose, Nabil Bentaleb and Son Heung-Min could earn starts.

Meanwhile, Leicester would be without the services of Jamie Vardy — out with a groin injury — Jeff Schlupp and Matt James, while Demarai Gray, who completing his move from Birmingham to Leicester on Tuesday, is in contention for making his first start for the club.



Gokhan Inler, Shinji Okazaki and Ritchie de Laet are amongst the players hoping for recalls and boss Claudio Ranieri hopes that the newcomers would take the opportunity to impress with both hands.

“We will change a lot, because these players deserve a chance to play. It will be a blend of players and I hope that they will make the most of the chance,” said the former Chelsea boss. “Our mentality won’t change. We go to win.”

Meanwhile in other matches, Chelsea host League One club Scunthorpe United, while Swansea travel to The Kassam Stadium to face League Two side Oxford United.



Klopp wary of Liverpool workload

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp bemoaned the fact that his over-worked team will be required to play yet another crucial game in January following the 2-2 FA Cup third round draw at Exeter City.

The German coach fielded an unrecognisable, young line-up against the League Two club, blaming a lengthy injury list and the need to rest senior players for what was his team’s fifth game in 14 days.

After Friday’s draw, Liverpool now face an Anfield replay with Exeter before a second leg of their League Cup semi-final with Stoke, as well as a scheduled Premier League meeting against Arsenal on Wednesday.



“We have to play again, I can’t believe that is another game but we will be there,” said Klopp. “I can’t judge the young players after this one game, it doesn’t work like that. However, they certainly helped us in our situation today but it’s obvious what we have to learn in the future. We have to be more robust.”

Klopp made light of a dreadful mistake by his back-up goalkeeper Adam Bogdan, leading to Exeter’s second goal, and claimed that the fact it was shown around the world on live television was sufficient analysis of the incident.

“I thought both goals were really unlucky for us,” he added. “The first goal was from their first attack and we weren’t awake. The second goal ... okay! The BBC showed it live, the full package, spectacular!”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2016.

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