LONDON -- Mauricio Pochettino has defended Danny Rose after Arsene Wenger appeared to lightly criticise the Tottenham defender for injuring Hector Bellerin in the North London derby.
Bellerin will miss the next month with an ankle injury after a tackle from Rose in the dying moments of the 1-1 draw at the Emirates on Nov. 6.
Speaking at a Thursday news conference, Wenger said, "It was the last 10 seconds, you watch it again. It was a bad one," before adding that he didn't think the England international had intended to hurt Bellerin.
Later on Thursday, Pochettino was told that Wenger had criticised Rose and he responded: "It is very strange that comment.
"But I respect Arsene Wenger a lot. After 20 years as a manager in one place, at Arsenal, I respect that. But for me what happens on the pitch is never about bad intentions, it is about football.
"It is strange -- if the comments are true -- that after 20 years he should criticise this.
"It's another derby where we need to be ready to compete."
Mauricio previews West Ham and the second of three November derbies. #COYS pic.twitter.com/gV2feUUerm
- Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) November 17, 2016
"I stopped my career 10 years ago and I feel like it was last month. I totally understand when players are playing with passion like Danny or anyone in our team -- we are always aggressive in our play. Sometimes things happen because football is very aggressive. It is a contact sport, always. You cannot avoid the contact.
"Two days ago [in England's friendly against Spain], there was a bad tackle on Danny from [Spain's Dani] Carvajal but that is football," Pochettino continued.
"If Danny comes in from the training ground and says, 'I cannot play on Saturday,' I cannot criticise Carvajal because it's a game. Or [Jamie] Vardy for the tackle on [Cesar] Azpilicueta -- that is football.
"We want all players to be like a man, be aggressive, make a tackle, always. But intention to injure the opponent? In football sometimes you cannot stop, you arrive late and you cannot criticise every single tackle."
Rose and his England teammates have been banned by the Football Association (FA) from having nights out while on international duty after a newspaper published images of a bleary-eyed Wayne Rooney in the early hours of Saturday morning, shortly after England had beaten Scotland without their injured captain.
Pochettino said he trusted his Spurs squad to behave and would offer them advice, rather than rules. He also said late nights and drinking was not a problem specific to England.
"We are in a pressurised environment, but always we try to give advice, never a ban. The players are men, they are not little children. Then it is up to them how they use that advice," the Spurs manager said.
"That's where it gets difficult because we are not their mum or dad and we cannot control what they do in their homes.
"All we can do is advise and teach them that some drinks are not good and they can affect their careers. They can also affect their behaviour and make them more open to injury. We can only teach, not ban.
"[Drinking] is in every country, every culture, the same problem. It is more individual than collective."
Pochettino, who has previously managed Southampton and La Liga club Espanyol, also revealed that he had helped one of his players who drank too much in the past.
"I tried to help him and it was hard. It wasn't funny at all. The most important thing was to try to help him -- of course [I did]. The player had suffered a lot."