Tottenham replay no day out for Rochdale

Rochdale will not treat today’s FA Cup fifth-round replay against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley as a day out and their manager Keith Hill is busy formulating the perfect plan to stop Mauricio Pochettino’s side. The third-tier strugglers, bottom of League One, earned a replay after a last-gasp 2-2 draw at Spotland Stadium and are the lowest-ranked club in the sixth-round draw.Tottenham, fourth in the Premier league after an unbeaten run stretching back to mid-December, are huge favourites at their adopted home as they seek to win the competition for the ninth time and first since 1991. Despite initial problems adapting to Wembley, Tottenham have beaten Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal there this season.“It’s not a day out for us,” Hill said. “We’re trying to do what would be an impossible task, which is play at Tottenham’s home ground and win an FA Cup replay. We’re trying to come up with the perfect plan, which has got to be delivered perfectly by the players.“We’ve seen Premier League opposition and Champions League opposition not being able to manage it. But we’ve done our due diligence on Tottenham and we’ve just got to make sure that we focus on our own game plan and not get carried away by the occasion.”Rochdale lost to Wigan Athletic at the weekend to stay bottom of League One and Hill wants his team to be brave. “We’ll try and play them at a game of football. I will encourage my players to be creative but focused, with intelligent energy,” he said.“It’s going to be a difficult game but an enjoyable opportunity and that’s what I want the players to see it as. They’re going to have to be brave, and if we’re brave and we get beat by four, five or six, then it’s something that me, as a coach, will accept. If we’re not too brave, then I’ll find that very difficult to digest, because I want us to take Tottenham on.”Tottenham will be without injured defenders Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen for today’s match against Rochdale. Belgium international Alderweireld has not recovered from a hamstring injury sustained in training last week and compatriot Vertonghen has an ankle problem.Both players missed the 1-0 win at Crystal Palace on Sunday and Alderweireld has made only two FA Cup appearances since injuring his hamstring in November. “Always you want all the players fit and available to be selected but that is why we are an amazing squad,” manager Mauricio Pochettino told reporters yesterday.“But if something happens like in the last week with Jan or with Toby, who for nearly four months now has been out, of course, you need the squad. We are ready to compete.”Pochettino will make changes keeping in mind Saturday’s Premier League trip to Huddersfield Town. “We are going to rotate some players to give (them) the possibility to play. They are in a good level and then we are going to play again on Saturday — a short period to recover for a Premier League game — and then the Champions League,” he said.Meanwhile, Tottenham midfielder Eric Dier has defended teammate Dele Alli after he was criticised for diving in 1-0 win over Crystal Palace. Midfielder Alli claimed a penalty after going down under a challenge from defender Patrick van Aanholt. He went to ground again near goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey later in the match but neither incident led to a penalty or a booking for Alli. England international Alli, who was booked for diving against Huddersfield Town and Liverpool this season, came under fire again from television pundits.“Obviously, because it’s Dele, it probably gets more attention than it deserves,” Dier said. “It’s difficult sometimes because if you take the action in the game against Liverpool, where he got booked for diving, I was standing right behind him. When he’s running towards the ball, he’s taken a touch and it looks like the guy is about to come and take him out. There’s a sense of ‘I need to get out of the way’. If (the opponent) then goes and stops, it’s difficult.”Dier said the Alli remained unaffected by the accusations against him. “That’s the great thing about Dele. I don’t think he pays any attention to it and that’s the most important thing,” Dier said. All he needs to pay attention to is how his team mates feel and how the manager sees him and how his family see him, and the rest really is irrelevant.”