Mauricio Pochetinno spoke after Tottenham Hotspur's 3-1 victory over Aston Villa on Monday night, giving an indication as to how pleased he was with his team.
A nervy, if uneventful, night in North London
Having taken the lead in just the second minute, via a fine solo effort from Mousa Dembélé, Tottenham struggled to really step up the gears in the first half, whilst Villa failed to show new boss Rémi Garde any signs of promise.
With the first half moving into added time, recent England international Dele Alli scored his first Premier League goal at White Hart Lane to send Tottenham in at the break with a comfortable lead.
The second half picked up where the first left off, with neither side showing any consistency or signs of quality in the final third of the pitch. Substitutions proved most effective for Villa, and caretaker manager Kevin MacDonald, as Jordan Ayew pulled one back with ten minutes remaining, with the help of a huge deflection.
Ayew again went close late on before Tottenham broke and, following an 11 pass move, found Harry Kane in the box to score his fifth league goal of the season .
Despite an underwhelming performance for both sides, Pochettino still found a number of positives to take out of the 90 minutes.
“You can’t look at the past”
Following the match, Pochettino was left to reflect on a victory which has seen his side remain unbeaten in the league since an opening day defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Having now gone ten games unbeaten in the league, the Argentine boss highlighted the need to look ahead rather than behind as his side face two important games in the coming days.
With a match against Anderlecht in the Europa League on Thursday followed by the North London derby at fierce rivals Arsenal on Sunday, Pochettino’s focus was instantly on his next task.
The ten match unbeaten landmark “means nothing” to the former Southampton boss because “we [Tottenham] want to win the next game.”
Despite having one of the youngest squads in the league, the highly promising start to the season has come with Tottenham developing under the radars of many but Pochettino insists his squad “are growing and maturing as a team.”
“Our group has a good mentality”
The positive thoughts of Pochettino were echoed by his vice-captain Jan Vertonghen, following the Belgian international’s 100th game for the North London side.
Despite still being only 28 years of age, Vertonghen is one of the most experienced players at White Hart Lane and insists that he, along with his younger teammates, “are learning from our mistakes.”
Having signed from Ajax in 2012, Vertonghen has become a key figure in the heart of Tottenham’s defence and expressed his delight at reaching the 100 game milestone, adding “I want to continue and get to 200!”
The start of a defining week
Having started the week in the best possible manner, beating Aston Villa without ever getting out of second gear, Pochettino and Vertonghen will be looking to grow in confidence ahead of one of the most intriguing North London derby in recent years.