Tottenham Hotspur correspondent Dan Kilpatrick speaks to Layla Anna-Lee after their final match in the ICC against Atletico Madrid.

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Two-and-a-half months on, Mauricio Pochettino still finds it difficult to explain the end to Tottenham's season. A 1-1 draw at West Brom left Leicester City one win away from the title, before Spurs' blew a two-goal lead to Chelsea, gifting the Foxes an unlikely Premier League crown.

Pochettino's side lost their final two matches, 2-1 at home to Southampton and 5-1 at Newcastle on the final day of the season to slip behind Arsenal into third -- a club-record high Premier League finish but behind the Gunners for the 19th consecutive campaign.

"It came at the end of a very stressful and emotional season," says Pochettino. "It was the first time our players had ever experienced this type of situation and it was very difficult. When you lose your objective, like we did when we lost the chance to win the league at Chelsea, it was tough for them to manage the situation."

Nodding to his ever-present assistant Jesus Perez, Pochettino adds: "For us too, it was a big thing for us. It was my worst day as a manager. The feeling after Newcastle was horrible. It put me in a bad mood for the whole summer. It killed my holidays. Seriously. I went to Barcelona and the Bahamas with my family, but all the time I was in a bad mood and I took it there -- in seven days in the Bahamas, six days were rain and storms!

"There was no time to assimilate the defeat at Newcastle because the season finished at the end of the game and I did not have the chance to share my feelings with my players the day after -- and kill them! Normally when you lose and you're upset with the players, you have the opportunity to tell them how you feel on Monday morning, and have a big discussion, a big fight. But it was not possible because many of my players went straight off to the Euros. I had to keep inside my bad feeling for the whole of the summer. Even when I was texting my players in France to wish them well, I had to hide my real feelings about the Newcastle game."

Pochettino's anger has abated and he is relaxed, though tired after waking at 4:30 a.m. due to jet lag, on Spurs' final day in Australia. The 44-year-old hopes his squad, which was the youngest in the Premier League last season, learns from their collapse, particularly the 2-2 draw at Chelsea.

Spurs led 2-0 at half-time as they went in search of a first win at Stamford Bridge since 1991 but lost their cool, ending with nine players booked and a six-match, retrospective ban for Mousa Dembele.

"I feel very proud. To change history, sometimes you need games like that to happen," says Pochettino. "Maybe it wasn't a good example but to change history, sometimes we need to fight. Maybe we crossed the line a little bit. But for us, it was good; a lot of players showed big character and personality. It was a game to learn a lot. We heard a lot about Tottenham and it's always that we're an easy team to play, who never show enough passion or aggression. For me, it means we've started to change our mentality.

"To be a winning club, you always need to play on the limit. In football, to compete, to be a winner, you need to play on the limit. Always. For us, it was a good game to know where the limit is. If we are clever, we need to use that to improve. Next season is very good opportunity to show that we are clever and we can learn about that. In my experience, you move on if you're clever."

Pochettino's summer cannot have been improved by the international football he saw. His homeland Argentina were beaten in the final by Chile on penalties for the second consecutive year in the Copa America final -- "It was hard," is about all he says about it -- and five Tottenham players were part of England's Euro 2016 humiliation.

One of them, Kane, has been unfairly scapegoated, claims Pochettino: "For me, Harry Kane was in the same lineup as the other players. Some good, some bad. It's not just his responsibility. In football you need to share responsibility. For me it is the manager first, the coaching staff and the players."

The England and Argentina managers -- Roy Hodgson and Tata Martino -- both resigned following the tournaments and Pochettino could be considered a good fit for either job. After all, no club manager has done more for the English national team in the last three years: 11 of the last 19 England debutants have been coached by him.

Meanwhile, Pochettino again sought to distance himself from links to Argentina role.

"Argentina is my country. My family is there. But I don't feel now is my moment to manage Argentina. I'm very young and I have a lot of challenges ahead in Europe, with Tottenham.

"Your success is not to know about football or tactics but to adapt your philosophy to a different country and different culture. To be good, you first need to know the culture and the habits of the players and to know the media and the supporters; to know everything. That's the most important thing.

"Nobody can plan the future," Pochettino continues. "I think this translates in football and life. Football takes you where football wants, not where you want to go. For me this was a good principle: 'Don't worry about the future.' You need to be ready for today. Football will take you where you deserve."

So far, football has taken Pochettino a long way but he recognises the need to go further. The upcoming season might be even harder but Pochettino is positive.

"Our challenge is to be a consistent team in Champions League and to try to fight for top four and we see what happens," he says. "Our idea is to win every game. And, is it possible to win the Premier League, why not? We need to try again, no?"

Dan is ESPN FC's Tottenham correspondent. Follow him on Twitter: @Dan_KP.