Liverpool signing Rickie Lambert has made a glowing tribute to his former Southampton boss Mauricio Pochettino.
Like Lambert, Pochettino has now left Saints to take charge of Tottenham.
Lambert, 32, said: "Each manager who came in at Southampton improved me massively - especially Mauricio.
"I had never really been taught how to play as a lone striker but he taught me that role.
"He put us through an horrendous pre-season of eighteen days, though, including eleven in Portugal. We had to walk on hot coals - that was the easy part. That was a relaxing afternoon!"
Pochettino - now boss at Spurs - wanted to teach his stars about mind over matter.
Lambert said: "He had some fella in to try to give us a winning mentality. It was all very interesting and one of his methods was for us to walk across burning-hot coals with nothing on our feet.
"You knew nothing worse could happen to you during the season after that."
