Mauricio Pochettino has told his United States players that they cannot pick and choose when they will be available for the national side.

It comes after comments from Christian Pulisic, who offered to play in two international friendlies despite wanting to be rested for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Pulisic confirmed he had asked to play in the USA’s friendlies against Turkiye and Switzerland in an interview with CBS Sports on Thursday.

The USA were beaten in both, losing the former 2-1 before a heavy 4-0 defeat, which extended their losing streak to four games. They have now suffered four successive defeats on home soil for the first time since June 1988.

Pulisic has earned 78 caps for his country, scoring 32 goals in that time.

However, he was not included for those matches as Pochettino wanted a consistent squad heading into the tournament, a decision which Pulisic said he respected but “didn’t understand”.

But Pochettino responded to those claims on Saturday, noting that it was up to him, not the players, if he wanted them in his squad.

“Players [do] not need to understand or not understand,” Pochettino said on Saturday. “Players need to listen and to stick with our plan. They cannot dictate the plan.

“The most important thing is that we explained why we decided not to include [him] in the two friendly games.

“Then if you have some problems, no, that is not my problem to understand. I am the head coach; I am not a mannequin.”