Mauricio Pochettino joked he has told Danny Rose he needs to “relax” more as a player, and focus on his game, as he praised the left-back for turning his Tottenham Hotspur career around.
There had been points over the last two years where it seemed Rose would leave, with the manager even telling him he needed to focus on his football. Pochettino feels he has done that.
“There is no doubt about Danny Rose's quality, there is no doubt. He is a great player. But, like with all the players of great quality, you need to be focused in your job,” Pochattino said.
“If you are focused, and you train and care about yourself - and don't think too much. Danny is a thinker.
“I always say to him ‘Danny you are thinking too much. You need to stop, and work. You need to deliver the job that we want, don't think.’
"He arrives here [at the training ground] ‘what are we going to do? One lap, two laps? Training session or tactical session? And then I need to go to the gym? Have a shower or not have a shower? Eat or not eat?'
"Stop and relax! He needs to stop thinking. Sometimes he tries to think for us too. He spends too much energy thinking about everything. He needs to arrive here and stop thinking. We are going to manage you, do this, do that, go to the shower and then have lunch. Then when you go to your car you can start to think again.
“But for the four or five or six hours he spends here he needs to let us manage him. If not he wants to manage himself, us and everyone. He spends too much energy and he doesn't have the energy to do what he is supposed to do. That is a very dangerous situation.”
Asked whether Rose is the hardest player he has managed, Pochettino said: "No! Because he is a lucky man. When I arrived, I don't know why, I connected with him and he felt my love. That doesn't mean that he is always going to play because I love Ben Davies too. We had a very good connection.
"He was out [of the team] when I arrived and was on his way out of Tottenham. That is why now he has to pay it back.”
