Thursday 7 December 2017 13:12, UK
Danny Rose says he "wasn't happy" at being substituted during Tottenham's Champions League win over APOEL but admits it was probably the right decision.
The left-back, whose future at Tottenham remains uncertain ahead of the January transfer window, stormed down the tunnel after a knock to his face required urgent medical attention.
Rose required four to five stitches on his forehead, according to manager Mauricio Pochettino, who told the defender he had to come off following a collision in the second half of the 3-0 win at Wembley.
"I wasn't happy but I could tell from the manager's reaction that I had to come off," Rose said.
"He said straight away 'you're coming off' and I was disappointed, but it's probably the right decision and hopefully I can recover now and be part of the squad on the weekend."
Pochettino said: "Never the player is happy when they are going out. He had a big cut and the doctors said he needed a stitch, and it was impossible to follow the play.
"Of course the player is frustrated because it's an opportunity to play in the Champions League and play football, but it was an accident - nothing wrong."
Rose has been in and out of the Tottenham squad since recovering from a long-term knee injury earlier this season, and he was open to a move to either Chelsea or Manchester United in the summer, according to Sky sources.
But the 27-year-old insists he is focused on the next few months at Spurs and is hoping the team can repeat their tremendous run through Christmas last season to restore their faltering top-four campaign.
"We have to get our Premier League form back on track because we've not been good enough recently," he said. "We're looking forward to concentrating on that and climbing the league.
"Since the manager has been here, we have always had a good December and January. I said to the guys before the game, 'this time last year we lost to Man United and after that we went on a great run throughout Christmas and January'."
