But the Croatia defender, bought from Manchester City in a protracted move completed just before the transfer deadline, warned they must string a run of wins together soon or they will be in deep trouble.

Spurs stayed anchored to the foot of the table when their worst league start for 34 years continued with a grim goalless draw at home to Wigan on Sunday.

Manager Juande Ramos was forced to deny reports he is homesick for his native Seville and considering leaving the job less than a year after Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy and sporting director Damien Comolli controversially head-hunted him in Spain and ousted predecessor Martin Jol.

But Corluka is convinced he has joined a top-grade team at White Hart Lane despite no wins from their first five Premier League games of the season.

He admitted: "Everybody expected us to win against Wigan but unfortunately we took only one point so, of course, everyone is frustrated.

"We worked very hard but we were also very unlucky. Obviously we didn't do enough to win the game because we have just one point from it but I'm convinced we only have to keep working hard, keep trying and results will come.

"We are a good team - too good certainly for the last place in the Premier League. I think we just need that first win to cheer us up and then everything will be okay.

"But we don't have the time to wait for that victory. We need to recover soon or else it will be very hard for us. We need not only a win but then to win several games in a row.

"It doesn't matter what competition it is, we just need wins. For sure, our confidence may not be on a high level at the moment but only results can change that.

"Hopefully those results will soon come if we believe in ourselves and we'll take up the position in the table that we deserve."

Next up in the Premier League are Portsmouth on Sunday at Fratton Park where Tottenham won with a Dimitar Berbatov strike last season.

But first they face Newcastle, their partners in Premier turmoil, at James' Park on Wednesday night in the first defence of the Carling Cup Spurs won so gloriously at Wembley against Chelsea last February.

Two weeks after that triumph they also beat West Ham 4-0 at White Hart Lane but have not won a league game at home since then.

With Berbatov and fellow striker Robbie Keane both leaving - they each scored 23 goals for the club last season - boss Ramos had to depend on Levy and Comolli acting quickly and decisively in the summer transfer market to sign top-drawer replacements.

But having missed out on Russian ace Andrei Arshavin, they settled for Arshavin's international team-mate Roman Pavlyuchenko who arrived for a £13.8million fee from Spartak Moscow to join another expensive newcomer in England's David Bentley, who cost around £16million from Blackburn.

But both were substituted during a dire clash with Wigan - Pavlyuchenko at half-time and Bentley just after the hour mark.

And with Ramos confirming that neither decision was due to injury they must be in doubt to start against Newcastle.

Corluka's Croatia team-mate Luka Modric is still struggling with a knee injury, Scottish defender Alan Hutton has been out all season with a foot problem and there has been no explanation so far for Michael Dawson's absence from the squad on Sunday when injury-prone skipper Ledley King was also not risked.

Spurs fans who booed their team off at both half-time and the at final whistle have given up guessing what Ramos' favourite line-up is.

He has used 21 players already in six matches so far this season - and that is even before the Carling Cup.

But he calmly insisted: "The new players need time for adaptation and they must get used to us trying different things, different situations.

"It is no good us telling them not to observe our position in the table. They know what is happening but they know that it is also perfectly possible to change the situation if we keep working together."

ends