Pochettino: Missing stars not an excuse for Spurs

MAURICIO Pochettino insists there are no excuses despite Tottenham’s long list of absentees for their Champions League game against Apoel Nicosia.

Christian Eriksen made it a total of seven players who are unavailable for tonight’s match in Cyprus after the Dane fell ill on Sunday, becoming unable to even travel with the Spurs squad.

He joins the suspended Jan Vertonghen and Dele Alli in missing out, along with Mousa Dembele, Danny Rose, Victor Wanyama and Erik Lamela, who are all injured.

It leaves Pochettino down to the bare bones for a match Tottenham ought to win if they are to maintain the momentum gained from their impressive opening victory over Borussia Dortmund.

“It’s not an excuse to have some players out of the squad,” Pochettino said.

“Christian is a very important player for us. It’s true we will miss him but we need to move on, we need to find a way to play and perform and try to win.

“He is ill, he stays in London, and we trust the player who comes into his position. I am not a manager who cries because a player cannot play.

“It’s about the team, the squad, quality, effort and we have a very strong squad to try to win.”

Tottenham’s squad proved too thin last season to cope with the extra demands of the Champions League — and within matches they were also guilty of being tactically naive.

Defender Ben Davies said: “I think the main thing we learned last year was you have to be totally prepared for the team you are up against and you cannot play the same way against every opponent.

“It’s a totally different level of football and we have to be able to adjust.”