Mauricio Pochettino believes that his Tottenham players have learnt from the painful experiences of last season as they prepare to kick off their Premier League campaign at Everton on Saturday.
Pochettino’s side were enjoying the club’s best season since the early 1960s as they tussled with Leicester for the Premier League title.
But they choked in the final weeks and a bad-tempered draw at Chelsea handed the title to Leicester before a humiliating 5-1 defeat at already-relegated Newcastle allowed bitter rivals Arsenal to pip them for second spot.
That added up to a bitter close-season for Tottenham supporters, but Pochettino has been focused on making things right this time and the Argentine coach is confident his players are ready to put the past behind them at Goodison Park.
“We will try to improve and learn from the past,” he said. “We need to improve a lot of things – to compete better, to behave better, to be more calm, to focus more on things that can improve the team.”
The players were told this as soon as they returned from their pre-season tour of Australia.
“I needed a lot of meetings after Australia to talk about different things,” Pochettino added.
“It’s true we were all disappointed with the way we finished the Premier League. We need to show we are clever and learn from our mistakes.
“There’s not a lot of change in the changing room and squad and I think that can help us.”
Pochettino has added Kenya midfielder Victor Wanyama, an £11 million (approximately R191 million) capture from Southampton, and Netherlands forward Vincent Janssen, who cost £17 million (approximately R296 million) from AZ Alkmaar, to his playing pool.
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