"We started off like a team who wanted to shove the criticism we've had back at people," the City boss said after the 2-0 win over Spurs.
"My one criticism is that we got ourselves into some great positions, but chose the wrong options when we broke at times.
"We have been a bit Jekyll and Hyde this season. I don't know who is the good guy, Jekyll or Hyde, but for about five weeks we have been the worse guy of the two.
"I told the lads that some of the criticism has been justified, but the one thing they shouldn't be criticised for, is looking like a team who's season has finished, that's a terrible thing to say about one of my teams.
"I said I can't keep defending them, but today they came up with the right attitude and we had the right balance in the side.
"We caught Spurs on an off day and we are only two points behind them now, and three of our four remaining games are at home.
"We must finish as high as possible because the difference between finishing just outside the relegation places or in the top half can be £2.5million and you can't under-estimate the importance of that with the state of the game at the moment."
TOTTENHAM MATCH REPORT