Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino plays down post-match confrontation with referee Mike Dean and takes blame for defeat at Burnley
Spurs could be eight points off the Premier League summit if Liverpool beat Manchester United on Sunday
Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino has played down his fiery post-match confrontation with referee Mike Dean.
Pochettino and assistant manager Jesus Perez berated Dean at full-time following their side’s shock 2-1 defeat to relegation-threatened Burnley on Saturday.
Jan Vertonghen’s tackle on Jeff Hendrick appeared to come off the Burnley midfielder’s leg, however, Dean awarded the hosts a corner, which Chris Wood headed in on 57 minutes.
A fit-again Harry Kane brought Spurs level, but Ashley Barnes netted seven minutes from time to potentially end Spurs' title hopes.
When asked about his rift with Dean, Pochettino told talkSPORT: “Sometimes some things happen on the pitch and I’ll keep it on the pitch.
“I said earlier in the week that this would be a difficult game for us – and when you lose the emotions are there.
“But if we need to blame someone, it’s ourselves. First the manager and then the team and everyone.
“We can’t find an excuse to justify the defeat because it was our problem and we made a mistake.”
Tottenham’s run of four successive league wins came to an end at Turf Moor.
Spurs could end the weekend eight points behind Liverpool, who can reclaim top spot in the Premier League if they avoid defeat to Manchester United on Sunday, live on talkSPORT.
Pochettino added: “It’s very disappointing. We wanted to put pressure on our opponents but it wasn’t like this.
“We lost the game, I don’t think we deserved to win, maybe we had more possession and shot more times than Burnley, but if you want to be a real (title) contender, you must show more, more quality in both ways, defending and, of course, playing.
“I’m very disappointed. We lost a big opportunity to put pressure on Liverpool and Manchester City.”
One positive for Pochettino was the goalscoring return of Harry Kane, who had missed six weeks of action with an ankle problem.
The England captain took his goal well and played the full 90 minutes.
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Kane’s return is a timely one with Tottenham facing Arsenal, Chelsea and Borussia Dortmund in the next 10 days.
Pochettino said: “There was a little doubt, but we decided to play with him (Kane). We were happy with his performance and the physical aspect. He was very good.
“It’s difficult to say something positive (after a defeat), we need to recover as soon as possible because the competition doesn’t wait for us and on Wednesday we have a big, big game.”