Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has revealed he is still haunted by his side’s collapse at the hands of Newcastle United on the final day of last season.
The surprise 5-1 mauling saw Spurs beaten to second place on the log by archrivals Arsenal, a loss which was all the more humiliating given the Toons had already been relegated.
‘The feeling after Newcastle was horrible,’ Pochettino told the Daily Mail.
‘It is true that after a couple of months you move on, but it put me in a bad mood for the whole of the summer. It killed my holidays. Seriously. I went to Barcelona and the Bahamas with my family, but all the time I was in a bad mood,’ the coach continued.
Pochettino explained he felt he had not been afforded closure following the loss.
‘Normally when you lose and you are upset with the players you have the opportunity to tell them how you feel on Monday morning when you meet them and have a big discussion and a big fight.
‘But after the Newcastle game it was not possible because many of my players went off to the Euros. So I had to keep my bad feeling inside for the whole of the summer.’
The manager, however, has expressed his excited for the season ahead.
‘The Champions League demands more energy — physical and mental — and we need to be careful how we manage that and the expectation and the demands,’ he said.
‘For me our challenge is to be consistent and consolidate our club in the top. And, is it possible to win the Premier League? Why not? We need to try again, no?’ he concluded.
