(Reuters) – Tottenham Hotspur players want to change the club’s destiny, manager Ange Postecoglou said after his side secured their best start to the league since the 1960-61 season.
Spurs climbed to the top of the Premier League with a 1-0 win at promoted Luton Town on Saturday despite playing the second half with 10 men.
Postecoglou’s team remain unbeaten after eight league matches, and are now two points clear of treble winners Manchester City and three ahead of last season’s runners-up Arsenal, before those two sides meet later on Sunday.
Spurs finished a turgid eighth in the last campaign with Italian Antonio Conte at the helm until he was sacked in March.
Postecoglou, who is the eighth permanent manager to be appointed by Spurs since they won their last piece of silverware in 2008, has turned around the north London outfit’s fortunes with a near-perfect start since he arrived from Scottish Premiership club Celtic in June.
“I don’t think it is fair to compare to last season, and speak about what happened then. It is all credit to the players, the way they have bought into what we are trying to do,” Postecoglou told TNT Sports.
“We are really tight as a group, which you see because not only are we winning games, but apart from the football, which has been good, the resilience we have shown has been great.
“The players want to change the destiny of this club and that is what they are trying to do on the pitch.”
Dutch defender Micky van de Ven, 22, scored the only goal at Kenilworth Road in the 52nd minute when he poked home a first-time shot after a cut back from fellow new signing James Maddison following a Spurs short corner move.
“I like winning. I love it. I get the team to play the way I want and try to create an environment that breeds success,” the Australian told reporters.
“I don’t get driven by the results at this early stage. Everyone we recruited in the summer has had a big impact which has helped, but we have to keep getting that right.”
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
