Pochettino apologises to the people of Rochdale

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has apologised for any offence he caused Rochdale following comments he made about their pitch.

Speaking ahead of their Emirates FA Cup fifth-round tie on Sunday, the Argentine said: “First of all, I want to apologise to the people in Rochdale and the chairman and the people who took my comment the wrong way.

“My comment was about the care, first of all for the Rochdale players, our players and the competition that all of England watches on TV.

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“Now, when I watch the pictures and the videos through the Rochdale website, I need to congratulate them because the effort was massive to get the pitch in the best condition to play without risk.”

Pochettino said last week that he felt the pitch was not ” in a condition to play football” and a “massive risk”.