Tottenham deserve a ‘party’ for their Premier League start despite off-field issues, says Mauricio Pochettino

Mauricio Pochettino believes his Tottenham players deserve a party following their record-breaking start to a Premier League season.

Eric Dier’s early winner means Spurs have collected 18 points from their opening eight games, their joint best ever start to a league campaign since 1992.

But Wembley, at least off the pitch, resembled more of a wake than a cause for any kind of celebration.

Less than 72 hours after playing out their Champions League thriller with Barcelona, it was back to normality for the Wembley crowds here in the pouring rain.

The novelty of playing at the national stadium is clearly wearing off for supporters who had long expected to return to their new home at White Hart Lane by now.

But the fact that the home side, who played most of the second-half with an extra man, were urged forward by their fans and played the game out in the corner flag spoke volumes of a team not fully hitting their straps.

Tottenham, who failed to make any summer signings, might be riding high once again but they are a shadow of their former self.

There’s certainly not an air of despondency, but there seems to be a frustration filtering down from the stands, a situation not lost on Pochettino.

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“It’s a strange feeling,” said the Tottenham manger.

“I think people always expect that when you have a good season and expect the next season to be better, and the season after better and better. But I think the problem is that we have improved a lot in the last year.

“To take us to the next step we have to finish the training ground and the stadium.

“And people talk too much about Tottenham. Tottenham must win titles to improve but that’s not true.

“We need to finish our stadium, training ground and provide the team and the fans to feel home and happy and then invest in the team and work hard. That’s not an excuse.

“We take our decision to think about football and the club too. While our contenders only think about football and try and improve the team only to win. And that’s a massive difference between us and the rest of the contenders.

“The rest of the clubs in a reality is completely different to us. I’m not frustrated, but it’s not realistic.

“We can win a title but it’s not compulsory to win a title, that’s the difference. Compulsory to the team that have spent a lot of money but it’s not the case for us.

“With our circumstances, I think we need to party!”

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The floodgate failed to open after Dier’s eighth minute strike as winless Cardiff showed they have the spirit, if not the quality, to hurt teams.

A jittery Spurs side created and missed their fair share of chances but Cardiff threatened themselves, coming no closer to when Sean Morrison’s header bounced off the post.

That came just moments after Joe Ralls’ 58th minute red card for hauling down Lucas Moura for a cynical rather than a dangerous tackle.

Neil Warnock let his feelings known about referee Mike Dean’s decision and Cardiff midfielder Harry Arter waded in by saying: “I don’t know if it was the influx of all the Tottenham players, but it seemed pretty clear he was going to give him a yellow and something triggered him to change his mind.

“I don’t see why that should have influenced the ref, he was closer than anyone.”