Ange Postecoglou felt Tottenham’s 1-1 draw at West Ham was a step in the right direction despite dropping more points in the top-four race.
Brennan Johnson’s early strike was cancelled out by a goal from Kurt Zouma as a frantic London derby ended all square.
“I thought for the most part we controlled the game pretty well,” said the Spurs boss.
“They are a big strong team. They sit deep and make it difficult for you. You have to be fairly calm in your approach but also really disciplined because they are a threat from the counter-attack.
“We conceded from a set-piece but the rest of the set-pieces we coped with really well. In the front third we lacked a bit of clarity of thought.
“But they are human beings, it is just football. I would love to have a joystick and put them where I want them, but it doesn’t work like that.
“Sometimes we have more time than we think. There were times when the ball was flashed across the box when we should have been in those areas.
“It is all part of the development. That is why we have coaches, why we develop a system. We are not the finished article and we know that.
“There was enough there tonight for me to say that it is a team still heading in the right direction.”
West Ham should have gone ahead inside four minutes when Mohammed Kudus rolled the ball across goal, but Jarrod Bowen put a simple chance wide.
Just over a minute later they were behind when Tottenham put a carbon copy chance away, Timo Werner crossing for Johnson to sweep home.
The Hammers equalised in bizarre fashion in the 19th minute when Bowen swung in a corner.
With Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario rooted to his line, the unmarked Zouma went up for a header and glanced the ball into the net off his back.
Michail Antonio spurned a glorious chance to put West Ham ahead after half-time when he held off Micky van de Ven to go one on one with Vicario, only to fluff his finish.
Destiny Udogie could have won it for Spurs in stoppage time but drilled his shot straight at Lukasz Fabianski.
“It was probably fair in the end, we did a lot of good things and showed much more resilience in defence tonight,” said Hammers boss David Moyes.
“We looked a threat and had to do a good job to stop a very good Tottenham team.”
Moyes, whose side won 2-1 at Tottenham in December, added: “Overall, if you’re giving me four points off Spurs before the season started, I’d have shaken your hand, walked away and said ‘thanks very much’.”