Mauricio Pochettino Comments on Loss to Newcastle, Tottenham's Season

Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino labeled Sunday's 5-1 defeat to relegated Newcastle United his "worst day as a manager," a result that saw Spurs lose the Premier League runner-up spot to rivals Arsenal.

Speaking to BBC Sport after the match, Pochettino made sure to apologise to the club's fans, especially considering it wasn't long ago the team was challenging Leicester City for this season's title:

"

First of all I would like to apologise to our fans, I think they don’t deserve all that happened today on the pitch and I apologise. It was a shame and diffcult to understand.

In the last couple of weeks when you do not play with 100 per cent it is impossible to win games and after Chelsea something happened. We cannot manage games in the right way.

I am very disappointed because our fans don’t deserve it, it is difficult to go tonight and see my boys and my wife. I think it is unbelievable and we are very disappointed.

"

Georginio Wijnaldum scored twice for the Magpies, while Aleksandar Mitrovic, Rolando Aarons and Daryl Janmaat also got on the scoresheet to complete Tottenham's embarrassment.

Pochettino went on to rue his side's inability to see out the win and secure second place, instead losing out to bitter rivals Arsenal in agonisingly close fashion, insisting his players were "on holiday":

"

We had the possibility to stay second and how we lost and how we gave to the opponent that is relegated, in the first and second half, they score three goals with 10 players it is the worst day as a manager and I feel very disappointed. We need to be sure that never happens again and need to improve our mentality. We were on holiday and that is the reality.

"

How ironic it is that rivals Arsenal are usually left ruing their own so-close-yet-so-far accomplishments, with Spurs the ones regretting their end-of-the-season slip-ups this time around.

Pochettino went on to further elaborate on where Sunday's performance ranked in his managerial career, per the Telegraph's Luke Edwards:

"

To our families too, I apologise, it’s difficult to go back to see your kids, your wife, your girlfriends, your dad – this wasn’t the team that played all season. It’s my worst day as a manager. Not just in England, in Spain, too.

I don’t think it was a tactical problem or about physical conditioning. What we have said the whole season and the last few weeks is that we need to improve our mentality.

Today we can see the problem from the beginning was that we were not ready to compete and we don’t enough quality to only try to play with the ball. We need to run, we need to give 100% and be aggressive. Today we weren’t the team we showed the whole season.

"

Tottenham ended their season with a four-match winless streak, going from potential title challengers to third place in less than a month.

Per BBC Sport, the Argentinian cast a downcast figure after the result:

Pochettino also said that his team "need to have clear ideas about the future" when asked if he'll be analysing his squad this season, perhaps suggesting big changes could be coming.

Many Spurs fans may well have snapped at the opportunity to finish third had they been offered it at the start of this season. But when looking back on recent results, they'll mourn what could have been so much more.