Denmark manager Morten Olsen has expressed his confusion at Christian Eriksen’s exclusion from the Tottenham first-team.

Spurs moved to beat a host of Europe’s top clubs to the signature of the £11.5m playmaker from Ajax over the summer as former chief Andre Villas-Boas set about a major overhaul of his squad.

After an initial bright start, Eriksen fell away from the starting XI, and has barely featured of late under Tim Sherwood.

He was left out of Tottenham’s shock 1-0 loss at Norwich over the weekend, despite the Londoners appearing to lack a creative spark in the final third.

Olsen says that he was surprised that his international star wasn’t utilised and that he has faith in the midfielder to thrive in English football:

“Was it a surprise to see him left out? Yes, very much,” he told The London Evening Standard.

“But I accept what my colleague chooses and I don’t know what happens in training.

“Nevertheless, when Christian has played he has shown he is a player who can make the difference. He is a creative player and he can play in different positions and Tottenham have used him in different roles.

“If he doesn’t have a very good day he can always perform for the team because he works very hard, and that’s very important when you play 40 or 50 games in a season. I’ve seen most of his games for Tottenham and I think he has done very well.

“Everyone who comes to the Premier League has to adapt to the different pace of the game. He has had a great technical and tactical education, but the next stop after that is to play in one of the top leagues in Europe. The name of the game in England is speed.

“He has shown from the beginning, though, that he is the kind of player who can do well in England.”

The 22-year-old joined Spurs over the summer despite there being rumoured interest from Liverpool.

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