Mauricio Pochettino still has no idea when Danny Rose will return for Tottenham Hotspur and has worryingly compared his situation to that of Erik Lamela who has been out for the last 11 months.

The England left-back has not played since January after suffering a knee injury while Lamela has started light training as he finally prepares his comeback.

Yet manager Pochettino is unable to confirm when Rose will be in contention for a first team return.

When asked if he has pencilled in a return date, the Argentine said: “No, it’s like the case of Lamela. I’m a coach and not a doctor. They know better than me. We cannot say in one week or two weeks. We are assessing them every day, still we need to wait and cannot give a date to return to the group and start training.

“Of course I suffer because like with Lamela you always want different players. You always want them fit and healthy and ready to compete to be available for selection. After the long term it is so difficult for him. All players love to play football and be healthy. He is suffering a lot. It is eight, nine months, we want to help him and push him to be motivated as quickly as possible.”

Rose aside, Tottenham are in high spirits following a week that has seen them win 3-0 at Everton and clinch a 3-1 Champions League victory over Borussia Dortmund in midweek.

But Pochettino is adamant they can play better than they are currently.

Pochettino has backed Tottenham to take another step forward (Getty)

“I think in football you can never stop,” he said. “You find different ways to develop and help the team – individual and collective.

“Every season at the start we are talking about improving and learning for different reasons. New players come, players that you have after two years or three seasons change their status and level and they need to improve.

“Sometimes a player, for different reasons, change, something changes in their mind. Many things happen.