A disappointed Eric Dier told Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino he was 'fine' despite being hauled off with injury on Thursday night.
The 21-year-old, who has started all but one game for Spurs this season, was clearly struggling with an injury late in the first half of Spurs' Europa League Group J encounter with Monaco when Pochettino opted to sacrifice the midfielder as what is believes to be a precuationary measure.
Reporters in the press box heard Dier assure Pochettino his problem was only minor, while the Tottenham man was said to have looked visibly frustrated by the manager's decision to substitute him.
Nabil Bentaleb, who hasn't played since August, was brought on in place of Dier with Spurs leading 3-0 and heading for the last-32 as group winners following an Eik Lamela hat-trick in the first half at White Hart Lane.
Ahead of the game, Pochettino acknowledged that the visit of Leonardo Jardim's side provided him with the opportunity to rest key players.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Dier disappointed to be coming off. "I'm fine" he tells Pochettino. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/thfc?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3134956-https://twitter.com/hashtag/thfc?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#thfc</a> — Tom Allnutt (@tomallnuttPA) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/tomallnuttPA/status/675054101936361472" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3134956-https://twitter.com/tomallnuttPA/status/675054101936361472" data-vars-event-id="c23">December 10, 2015</a>
Asked specifically about Harry Kane, the Spurs boss said: "Is it a chance to rest him? Maybe yes."
"He is in the squad but it is true we need to assess him and we still have to decide the starting 11."
He did indeed drop Kane to the bench, and the Argentine boss was clearly in no mood to risk long-term injury to another of his first-team assets given Spurs had wrapped up top spot within 40 minutes in north London.
