ROSE RISE ALL DOWN TO POCH
DANNY ROSE has thanked Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino for turning him into an England full-back.
Rose revealed that the Argentine was the first manager to ever give him the specialised coaching needed to become a top defender.
The 25-year-old Yorkshireman, who began his career as a winger, is now Roy Hodgson’s first-choice left-back.
Rose said: “Moving back to left-back was pretty random to be honest – it came about when Harry Redknapp was the Spurs manager, and Benoit Assou-Ekotto was injured.
“Even then, it was only when I went to Sunderland on loan that I started to embrace the idea I should give the position some thought. As daft as it sounds I had never had a manager work on me until Mauricio [Pochettino] came to Tottenham.
“That’s no disrespect to any of the other managers I’ve worked for, but it wasn’t until the current manager came that I had anyone who’s taken time out to work on me as a left-back and try to help me improve. The boss always says that he wants me to play with the same arrogance as Marcelo at Real Madrid.
“Every time Marcelo goes out onto the pitch he looks like he thinks he’s the best in the world – and Pochettino wants me to have the same arrogance when I play for Spurs.”
Rose is hoping to get the chance to show how much he has improved by taming his former Spurs team-mate Gareth Bale when England face Wales in Lens on Thursday.
He added: “He is probably the only player I have seen who is a lot faster than Kyle Walker.
“But we will talk about him as the game gets closer.”