LONDON -- Mauricio Pochettino has said Tottenham were too "nice" to influence the referee as he thinks their opponents Juventus did in this week's Champions League defeat to the Serie A club.
The Spurs manager has described Juve as specialists in winning and said they have mastered the "small details" needed for success at the highest level, including putting pressure on the referee.
As an example, he had cited the presence of Juve president Andrea Agnelli and general manager Giuseppe Marotta in the tunnel during Spurs' 2-1 defeat at Wembley on Wednesday.
But Pochettino felt Spurs, by contrast, were unable to influence referee Szymon Marciniak, who ignored penalty appeals for both sides in the first half and did not punish Andrea Barzagli for a stamp on Son Heung-Min.
Asked if he had any complaints about Barzagli's conduct, Pochettino said: "Of course. Look, many things happened. And we complained.
"We put pressure on the referee. But it was easy for the referee to manage us because we were very nice people, trying to help to play a game.
"In this situation, with experience you have more possibilities to achieve all that you want. Of course, that is another game. It's not only the game of playing football.
"Maybe we need to learn, the coaching staff, like our players, how we put pressure on the referee. In this type of game, every minimal detail can help you win the game.
"Look at the second half: many fouls that wasn't fouls, many times they started the game with the ball moving, players inside the box on goal kicks -- you need to take it again!
"In the Premier League this doesn't happen [from goal kicks]. That situation is about experience. How you increase the tempo of the game, things like that."
Agnelli was on the pitch during Juve's warm-up for the first leg in Turin, a 2-2 draw, and at Wembley the president positioned himself in the tunnel, along with Marotta, who Pochettino saw talking to referee Marciniak at the interval.
"I am not complaining -- I don't say it's wrong or right -- I'm only describing what I saw," Pochettino said. "Agnelli was on the field during the warm-up [in Turin]. And [Juventus director Pavel] Nedved.
"When you are a player you feel the support of the people that are there. They are with you on the field. I'm only describing the situation, how they behaved, because I like to learn and to improve. And we saw how the sporting director [Marotta] put pressure on the referee at half-time.
"They were complaining about the penalty in the first half [when Jan Vertonghen appeared to foul Douglas Costa], of course."
Spurs are back in action on Sunday when they visit Bournemouth in the Premier League and Pochettino revealed he had planned a number of meetings with his players to help them "handle the pain" of Wednesday's defeat.
"I met them yesterday and today [Friday] individually. How they feel? How they are? At breakfast, after breakfast, in training. And yes tomorrow we are going to have another meeting.
"I think in between yesterday and today it is to give space to the players to manage and handle the pain and disappointment. Today we are going to have a meeting and start to decide the plan, everything, to talk maybe about Bournemouth, maybe about the Juventus game or maybe a mix. That will be so important -- with clear ideas and with fresh minds, to be focused again to compete.
"There's no time [to mourn] because the competition does not wait for you," Pochettino added. "It is good sometimes to feel the pain, disappointment.
"Sometimes you need your own time. Sometimes in one day you feel good and you feel fresh. Another player needs one day and a half, another player a few hours. More or less in 48 hours, two days, the process for everyone starts to feel better."