Pochettino: rotation vs. Stoke was to keep players fresh

Oh, but the subtext! Mauricio Pochettino made four changes to the starting 11 for today’s win over Stoke City at the bet365. Fullbacks Serge Aurier and Danny Rose came in for Kieran Trippier and Ben Davies, Eric Dier started on the bench in favor of Victor Wanyama, and Erik Lamela went out for the return of Harry Kane to the lineup.
None of those were especially shocking changes from the team that beat Chelsea last weekend, but Poch was asked about them in the post-match press conference, and to maybe everyone’s surprise, Poch gave a pretty long and drawn-out response.

“Look I was so happy with the performance of the team, to beat Chelsea after 28 years. It’s only that the players need to feel confident and feel that they can play fo...