England and Tottenham winger Andros Townsend has been fined and left out of the Spurs squad to play Anderlecht this week following a clash with a fitness coach, as per Tom Collomosse of the Evening Standard.
Townsend was seen pushing coach Nathan Gardiner during the warm down after Tottenham’s 3-1 win over Aston Villa on Monday, and manager Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed that the 24-year-old has been left out of his squad as a direct punishment for this act.
Because of [the clash on] Monday, he is not available for selection. When you behave in the wrong way, you always need to pay. Discipline is very important to me.
We have a young squad who can make mistakes but when you cross the limit it’s important to stop that. Sometimes when you don’t play as much as you expect, I can understand it, but it’s not the way to impress the manager.
He needs to learn about football, which isn’t just playing the game. He needs to learn about behaviour, discipline. You need to have the responsibility of a professional.
Townsend is yet to start a league game for Spurs this season and the London Evening Standard understand that the winger has grown increasingly agitated at his lack of game time, which may have led to the heated exchange.
Townsend has only played 67 minutes of Premier League action in his three substitute appearances for Spurs this season and the nimble winger could be forced to push for a move away from White Hart Lane in January or risk missing out on England’s Euro 2016 squad.
