Wimmer was the obvious choice to replace Vertonghen

Wimmer was the obvious choice to replace Vertonghen

Kevin Wimmer stepped in for Jan Vertonghen successfully and I seem to have been in the minority in believing he would step in for him again instead of Ben Davies.

Fans and journalists alike don't seem to look at the bigger picture. As a coach you have to. Danny Rose simply can't play every game, he needs a rest. He left the Etihad stadium on Saturday in a leg brace!

He is OK by the way, he was moving around freely on the plane to Barcelona. The point is though, we try to rotate our full-backs when there are two games a week because they get a lot of work. If Ben Davies were playing at centre-back, he would be able to cover for left-back and as we saw against Chelsea, Kevin Wimmer is no left-back.

It made much more sense to draft him in and have Ben Davies play in the FA Cup, cover for Rose and in February play in the UEFA Europa League. We get the best from both players instead of stretching our squad to perhaps breaking point.

Last season when Wimmer came in our defence he played 16 games for Vertonghen and we conceded 14 goals, 5 of those against Borussia Dortmund. He does tend to get booked too much and usually in the first half. On Saturday it was very early in the game and he was taken off at half-time.

“It’s not the first time I had this situation. I train every day and learn a lot from the other guys, from Toby and Jan especially. I always try to look at what they do and when I get my chances, I try to copy them a little bit. Of course I try to do my best but it’s not easy when you don’t play every week. You always have to be ready as a footballer — and I am. 

“It’s not a good feeling when any of our players are injured, especially if it’s a bad injury. Jan is a strong guy, his mind is strong and he is always positive. Everyone hopes he will be back soon. With Toby, too, I think the injury is not too bad but it’s never good when such important players get injured. 

“A few weeks ago when we had two days off, I went to Cologne to see friends because I’m still in touch with them. I had a very good time there but this caused a problem because I was seen there and there were some discussions. But there was never a point when I thought about leaving. I feel very comfortable here and I never thought about going back to Germany.”