Date published: Saturday 5th September 2020 11:47
Danny Rose slammed his Tottenham teammates in a heated meeting with Jose Mourinho last season.
Rose endured a difficult campaign in 2019/20 and left for Newcastle on loan at the end of January.
Earlier that month came his most recent game for Tottenham: a 1-0 defeat to Liverpool that saw him substituted after 69 minutes and dropped for, among other players, Japhet Tanganga thereafter.
Rose later described watching “centre-backs and right footed centre-backs play in my position” as “a slap in the face, basically,” confronting Mourinho about the issue a couple of weeks before his departure in scenes captured for the All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur documentary.
“Gaffer, I just want to know what the problem is?” he asked, according to the Evening Standard.
“You know exactly what I mean. How I’m being treated. I was very excited when you came as manager but if you don’t want me to play, I’d rather you just told me now and I’ll stay at home, gaffer. I’ll train at home.”
Mourinho’s response – that he “didn’t play well” in the previous game against Liverpool – went down about as favourably as one might expect.
“I respect what you’re saying about I didn’t play well against Liverpool, which is true,” Rose replied. “But I play once every four weeks. Do you want me to be man of the match and give my best performance when I play one game every three or four weeks?
“The defence has kept two clean sheets. They play every game. It’s not fair.
“OK, I wasn’t good. You were right and I respect what you say. But other people have been sh*t in training, sh*t in games but play every game and are in the squad every game. It’s not fair.”
“That’s your perspective,” said Mourinho, to which Rose added: “It’s facts. The whole changing room know it’s facts! Not fair.
“And I’m going to see Daniel as well. So when Daniel’s in, tell him I’m looking for him.”