Following Tottenham's surprise loss at Burnley, their manager Maurcio Pochettino marched on to the field at full time to confront referee Mike Dean (0:46)

Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has said he made a mistake when confronting referee Mike Dean after the 2-1 defeat at Burnley.

Pochettino appeared to be unhappy with the award of the corner from which the home side scored their opening goal, believing the final touch had been off the home side's Jeff Hendrick rather than Jan Vertonghen.

He voiced his frustrations on the touchline and then confronted Dean after the full-time whistle.

But speaking at his postmatch news conference, he said: "When you feel so disappointed and upset, maybe you sometimes make some mistakes. We made mistakes on the pitch and I made a mistake after.

"Maybe I needed to go straight away to my dressing room and get some water and be a little bit relaxed.

"What can I say? One day I crossed the cables in my brain. It was weird and strange that it didn't happen before during 10 years.

"You know it's something where the feelings and emotions are there. Something stupid happens and you react. Maybe I'll go after [to apologise]."

Pochettino had stressed in the build-up that the trip to Turf Moor had the potential to be "decisive" for his side's title hopes, and he said the defeat was a big setback.

"I think it was a fantastic opportunity for us to be a real contender and to show everyone that we deserved to be there," he said.

"OK, we had the possession, we created more chances than Burnley, but it's not enough. At this type of level, if you want to be a contender you have to come here and show your credentials and say: 'We are here because we deserve it and we are going to be real contenders.'

"That didn't happen and we need to find why, inside not outside. Maybe we are heroes if we win at Stamford Bridge and beat Arsenal, but it's the same feeling as when we lost against Watford. It was in our hands to win and we lost.

"If you want to win and make history, this type of game, I don't know how but you must win."

Harry Kane returned from injury and scored Spurs' goal, but their eventual defeat came after they had won their previous four matches in the England striker's absence.

"That shows that the most important thing is the collective," Pochettino said. "We won with other players.

"Harry scored and I'm so happy that he's back -- he's going to help the team -- but nobody is more important than the team."