Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has spoken out about his reaction to the club’s previous Premier League season, saying that if he “had the opportunity to kill them,” he would have done.
Tottenham finished in third place in the league behind derby rivals Arsenal and winners Leicester, though appeared to be on course to take home the trophy before suffering through a series of unexpected losses. This understandably upset Pochettino, though his reaction was perhaps more exaggerated than we typically see from footballer managers. “I just told them, that if I had had the opportunity to kill them, then I would have done”, the Argentinean said, adding: “I wanted to kill all of them. And kill myself to. I am very honest with them and they are very honest with me. That is a very good relationship.”
Though Tottenham had lost sight of the Premier League trophy earlier in their season, they were forced to settle for a bronze model after a humiliating 5-1 defeat to Newcastle on their last day, dropping 3 points to a relegated side and watching as Arsenal climbed above them into second place. This came at the tail-end of a dreadful summer for the club, in which they also lost out to Southampton and only took away 1 point against West Bromwich Albion and a struggling Chelsea side.
Pochettino conceded that it was “tough” to manage the club as the Premier League drew to an end, saying: “In your mind you are tired, after the whole season, it was a big stress. We lacked focus to finish the season in the way that we deserved. Football is about experience and learning to improve. Our team today is more mature than last season.”
Tottenham will face Everton in their opening game of the upcoming season, with them looking to start off on the right foot against a squad that struggled with their home form throughout the duration of last season. However, considering that it took Tottenham until their fifth league game to finally secure a win, this could be a slow start to the season for both clubs.
