Wigan Athletic boss Roberto Martinez hailed the character of his players after their victory at Tottenham.
The Latics stunned Spurs with a 1-0 victory at White Hart Lane, which came on the back of 4-0 and 6-0 defeats in their opening two games of the campaign.
They had also shipped nine goals in the corresponding fixture last season but their defence was simply unrecognisable from those debacles.
"The type of performance we had today was really of a group of players really committed," said manager Martinez after watching Hugo Rodallega net an 80th-minute winner.
"They were prepared to give their lives for each other."
The Latics boss admitted his side had lacked such qualities in previous matches.
"We were missing that togetherness, that team spirit," he said. "But today, everyone will agree that we had that in abundance."
Revealing how such a dramatic turnaround in fortunes had been achieved in just a week, Martinez added: "We are a team that want to be really brave, we want to play face to face with all the teams. Unless you are very disciplined and you are prepared to cover those two yards sometimes with real intensity then you're going to get hurt.
"We addressed that approach more than anything and I think you saw that. Spurs put a lot of pressure on in the second half and we didn't really look under any exposure. We were a team for once, and that allowed the football side to make a difference."
Wigan's new-found spirit was typified by the performance of centre-backs Steve Gohouri and Antolin Alcaraz.
"When you play against Spurs, you know you're going to be really tested," Martinez said. "That partnership today allowed us to perform in the manner that we did."
