Mauricio Pochettino has revealed how he carried the burden of Tottenham's last-day collapse through to pre-season, when he held a meeting to tell his players he wanted to kill them.
Spurs succumbed to a 5-1 loss at Newcastle United to slip to third at the end of a 2015-16 campaign that at one stage held the promise of a maiden Premier League title.
With many of Pochettino's squad heading away on international duty, the Argentine had to wait before delivering a dressing-down following their pre-season tour of Australia.
"When we came back from Australia, we talked a little bit about the end of last season," he said.
"The players needed to hear from the manager my feelings, how I felt after the game and after the season, because there was no time to share it then.
"I explained my point of view, my feelings and it was a very good meeting, between each other, to share our feelings.
"I wanted to kill all of them and I wanted to kill myself too. I told them that. I just said 'if I had the opportunity to kill you, then I would have killed everyone.'
"I am very honest with them and they are very honest with me. There is a very good relationship.
"Maybe I am the first manager to start pre-season with this kind of meeting. But it's a good point because always I believe that we need to use our experience to improve.
"It's important to take something from every experience and you always need to find the positives."
