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From Telegraph

Mauricio Pochettino tells Spurs players: 'I am not going to convince you to stay - leave if you want'

Matt Law, Football News Correspondent

Mauricio Pochettino is not going to go on a charm offensive Credit: PA
Mauricio Pochettino has brought his Tottenham Hotspur 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 on the back of three successive Premier League victories, the latest of which was a 3-0 success at Old Trafford, but Pochettino’s mood was anything but buoyant on Friday.

Toby Alderweireld, Danny Rose and Mousa Dembele, who were all expected to leave this summer, played against United but Pochettino refused to offer any assurances over their long-term futures.

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

With the foreign transfer window now shut, all three will stay until at least January. Pochettino was frustrated with questions about the trio, but made it clear it is up to them whether they commit themselves past then and not up to him to make up their minds.

“I am not a person who is going to convince players to stay or not stay," said Pochettino. “If they want to leave, they want to leave. The players who don’t want to stay can leave. I’m not going to convince people to stay who don’t want to.

“It’s not a problem if we lose one or two or three. Because we have plenty of players in the academy, no problem. I am more than happy to keep all the players and I am more than happy if they leave, and we play with the under-23s. It’s not a problem, I promise you. Not a problem for me."

Tottenham and Watford are two of four clubs to have made a perfect start to the season, but Pochettino has warned his side will need to cut out the mistakes they got away with against United when they travel to Vicarage Road on Sunday.

“We’re going to play on Sunday against a very good team – a team that’s going to fight and is in a very good moment because after three games they’re over the moon," said Pochettino, who is without goalkeeper Hugo Lloris because of a thigh injury. “Of course, 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.

“When you’ve beaten Manchester United 3-0 in Old Trafford, a historic victory, it’s easy to say our performance was fantastic and they were not so good. But when you watch again I think the line was very thin, to be in the left or right, in the positive or negative.

“In the last three games we’ve conceded a lot of chances. Our keeper made an unbelievable save to keep the team alive. Of course after we scored we showed character and many positive things, but come on. If we want to fight and be a contender, we need to talk on the pitch and not outside. We need to show we are capable after 10 months, not only after three games."

Tottenham have agreed in principle with Manchester City to play their game 24 hours later than scheduled on Monday Oct 29 at Wembley if, as expected, the new stadium is not ready. Watford, however, are unhappy with Spurs’ request to the English Football League to play their Carabao Cup clash at MK Dons because Wembley is unavailable.