Pochettino: I will offload any player who wants to go

‘It’s not a problem if we lose two or three. We have academy players’

Mauricio Pochettino has brought his Tottenham players crashing back to earth by telling them the victory over Manchester United was not good enough and insisting there would be no charm offensive for anybody who hoped to leave.

Spurs travel to Watford tomorrow on the back of three successive Premier League victories, but Pochettino’s mood was anything but buoyant yesterday. Toby Alderweireld, Danny Rose and Mousa Dembele, who were all expected to leave this summer, played against United but Pochettino refused to offer assurances over their futures.

Dembele will have six months remaining on his contract when the transfer window reopens in January, while Alderweireld’s deal contains a £25million release clause, and Rose admitted last season he wanted to return north one day.

“I am not a person who is going to convince players to stay or not stay,” said Pochettino. “The players who don’t want to stay can leave. It’s not a problem if we lose one or two or three. We have plenty of players in the academy.”

Pochettino has warned his side will need to cut out the mistakes they got away with at Old Trafford. “If we’re not ready and we believe because we beat Manchester United 3-0 that all is fantastic, I think we are going to crash,” said Pochettino, who is without goalkeeper Hugo Lloris due to a thigh injury. “In the last three games we’ve conceded a lot of chances.”