Mauricio Pochettino has revealed that he turned to wine and junk food for solace after Tottenham were thrashed 5-1 on the final day of 2015-16 to slip to a third-placed Premier League finish.
Spurs lost their last two league games of the campaign to end what had been a hugely impressive season on a major low.
Having missed out on the Premier League title to Leicester weeks earlier, Tottenham eventually finished third behind north London rivals Arsenal.
The manager has revealed in a new book entitled, Brave New World: Inside Pochettino’s Spurs, that he was left feeling down and embarrassed after his side were humbled by relegated Newcastle United on the last day of the season.
“I got in the car and headed home,” he explained, as quoted by the Sky Sports website. “The first thing that I did when I got there was open a bottle of wine and stuff myself with unhealthy food. I think I let my frustration out on myself. I ate the lot: crisps, snacks… If we had pizza, some of that as well. No salad.
“The wine was Argentinian: a Malbec. Whenever I am slightly down, I like to smell Argentinian wine. It makes me happy and takes me back to my country, to recognisable places, to when I was a boy, the redolence of the countryside where I lived until the age of eight, in that house with an orchard and horses… If I am challenged to some blind wine tasting, I quickly suss out which one is Argentinian, particularly Malbec.
“Everybody was impressed by our campaign. There was talk that we’d played the best football, had the most shots on goal, conceded the fewest goals and the rest, but I couldn’t brush off the embarrassment of what had happened on the final day.”
OPINION
This is some fascinating insight into how Pochettino deals with failure. It clearly hits him hard and the fact that he was embarrassed in the wake of the team’s best Premier League season for a generation is telling. He demands total commitment from his players and when he doesn’t get it, he blames himself. Spurs fans should be encouraged that their manager has such high standards.