Mauricio Pochettino professed himself perplexed at questions over Danny Rose’s absence from the Tottenham squad that lost 2-0 at Arsenal on Saturday.
Rose was not part of the 18-man party that travelled to the Emirates on Saturday and was instead left behind at Hotspur Way to work on his fitness after missing the vast majority of 2017 with a knee injury.
The 27-year-old had played 90 minutes in Spurs’ last Premier League game, a 1-0 win against Crystal Palace, but his manager insisted that he could not understand why he was having to field questions about Rose’s participation in the derby.
“He was training today,” Pochettino said. “Like [Erik] Lamela, after nearly one year, they need to build their fitness no?
“It's strange when a player that is fit and plays regularly is out, but when you have been out for 10 or 11 months out and then you start to play, sometimes the decision is it's better to train and prepare for the next game rather than be on the bench and perhaps not play and waste time.
“It's not the same when you need to prepare for a game, with training. Sometimes they need different types of training to get fit and build their fitness. That is what happened with him."
Asked whether Rose had been disappointed by the decision to leave him out of the match squad, Pochettino said: “Why? Why? Why would he react badly? For what?
“Like Lamela was playing with the U23s. What happened?
“We need to focus on the game today. I am so disappointed about the game. I don't understand your question, sorry.”
Rose had not been the only fitness headache Pochettino had faced heading into the north London derby, with Harry Kane, Harry Winks and Dele Alli all missing international duty with injuries.
Winks was left on the bench whilst a bandaged Kane and Alli struggled to impact a game where they were ably shackled by the Arsenal defence, but Pochettino insisted his double substitution to replace the pair with Fernando Llorente and Heung-min Son 15 minutes from time was not based on fitness concerns.
“After 75 minutes I think at 2-0 down, after their problems, I think it was the time to say 'out', find different options and give the team different options to play and then avoid risk in the last 15 minutes,” he said.
“I think he finished well. He's good, of course tired, which is normal, like Dele, but they are ok.”