Mauricio Pochettino says that he might have become the first manager to begin a pre-season by rollicking his players. “I just told them: ‘If I had the opportunity to kill you, then I kill everyone,’” he said.

The Argentinian had stewed all summer on his team’s 5-1 defeat at Newcastle United on the final day of last season, which set the seal on a desperately disappointing four-game sequence, when they went from potential Premier League champions to third-placed finishers.

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Pochettino had to draw a line under the Newcastle performance, to achieve some sort of closure and, when he was reunited with the international players who had not travelled on the club’s mini-tour to Australia because of their involvement at Euro 2016, there was a full and frank exchange of views.

“Maybe, yes, I am the first manager to start pre-season with a rollicking,” Pochettino said. “But it’s important to take something from every experience. You always need to find the positives. When we came back from Australia, we talked a little bit [about Newcastle].

“Always, it is important to finish. They needed to hear from the manager about how I felt after the game, and after the season, because there was no time to share then, I explained my point of view and it was a very good meeting.”

Pochettino had 11 players at the European Championship, plus Érik Lamela at the Copa América and for all of them, even Ben Davies, who excelled for Wales, it ended in heartbreak. Davies was suspended for what would have been the biggest game of his career – the semi-final defeat against Portugal – and Hugo Lloris was on the losing France team in the final.

Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld and Mousa Dembélé were part of the Belgium squad that underachieved – Vertonghen sustained a serious ankle ligament injury – and then there was the England quintet of Kyle Walker, Danny Rose, Eric Dier, Dele Alli and Harry Kane, who were in the starting XI for the Iceland debacle. Kevin Wimmer barely featured for Austria as they exited at the group stage while Lamela was in the Argentina squad that lost to Chile in the Copa América final.

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Pochettino admitted that he worried about the impact of the international defeats but he now knows that he need not have done. “That was our worry as a coaching staff – how they would assimilate the situation,” Pochettino said. “But it is incredible how they behave. They have completely forgotten the Euros. It will have no impact for them. They are very happy to be back here training together, with unbelievable energy.

“Hugo, for example, was very close to winning a very important trophy and we need to use that [as motivation] – not to feel disappointed or angry. Hugo has come back in a very good way, like all of the international players. It is that that has surprised us, because we don’t need to work too much [on lifting them].”

Pochettino suggested that a slate had been wiped clean and the feeling at the club, before their season opener at Everton Saturday, is one of excitement. The manager said that Vertonghen, who did not feature in pre-season, was in contention.

What would be key, Pochettino continued, was that he and the players learned their lessons from last time out, particularly the run at the end, when the damaging draws against West Bromwich Albion and Chelsea were followed – with the title beyond them – by the losses to Southampton and Newcastle. Tottenham had been in front against Albion, Chelsea and Southampton and, in total, they lost 20 points from winning positions. Only Chelsea, with 21, squandered more.

“We need to know how to improve our mental state,” Pochettino said. “This was key in the last few games of last season. It is not tactical, it is not philosophical because, after two years, we know very well how we need to play. It is in our heads that we need to improve.

“ Sometimes we were very focused and, at other times, it was like a war. We need to be focused on our game and not on other things. Football is about experience and learning to improve. Our team today is more mature than last season.”