Mauricio Pochettino has recognised the importance of collective responsibility in dealing with the disappointment of a defeat such as the one we suffered at Newcastle last weekend. The head coach also acknowledged he was not afraid to hide his true feelings from the players in the wake of that loss.
At his press conference at Cobham this afternoon, the first media he had done since his post-match duties at St James’ Park, Pochettino was asked if he got visibly angry in front of his players.
‘They know very well how my mood was,’ he replied.
‘I am not here acting. I am not going to show a face that I do not feel. When I am happy, I will show happy. When I’m not happy, I will show not happy. With the players it’s the same.
‘We let down our club because it was our responsibility. We need to think like this. It’s not the coaching staff on one side and the players on another. It’s everyone together. It’s always about putting the context in the situation, and it’s important the players feel the coaches in a natural way, when we are angry or happy.
‘Of course, we were tough in our analysis and tough is to tell the truth, to show the things we didn’t do,’ added Pochettino.
‘It’s not to blame just them, it’s about blaming everyone, and ourselves first. Maybe our approach wasn’t right and that is about us paying attention and having a different approach in the future.
‘We are a young team and sometimes maybe we have to be tough. Sometimes, we may need to be nice, and we need to choose the way we are going to express ourselves and translate the ideas.
‘I feel happy now because the week was good, but of course, I am not happy after the last game and we know really well we need to perform at the weekend and recover the points we lost against Newcastle.’
It was put to Pochettino that playing a team we have already beaten this season – and indeed in pre-season – could serve as a confidence booster.
‘It’s not the opponent. We can see that. We had Tottenham, Manchester City and Newcastle, and maybe, the most likely to take points from would be Newcastle, because they were playing three days later against PSG to qualify in the Champions League. So maybe they would be distracted.
‘But then we beat Tottenham, had an amazing game against Man City, and then we lost against Newcastle.
‘We are our own worst enemies and we need to focus on us. If we are in a good place, we will compete in a good way. It will not be a problem. At the moment, we need to pay more attention on ourselves than the opponent.’