Alex Neil insists he is no tactical genius after plotting Manchester United's demise, but Norwich City can target a festive haul if they repeat their miserly approach at Old Trafford.

Neil preferred to hail his players despite getting the better of Louis van Gaal to seal a first win since 1989 at the Red Devils.

'I try to do as well as I can in every game but what has killed us is making vital mistakes at crucial moments. Whatever way you set up tactically that is going to cost you points,' he said. 'There have been times when, with hindsight, I might have changed it but at United we had the right team, we had the right approach and the players did fantastically well. Now we want the same again at Tottenham.

'You want to kick on and you hope we can build on it but it is not easy when you are a newly-promoted team and you are fighting, let's be honest, against far bigger clubs than us. Let's just try to keep building. We need wins. That is the key. I have said it all season there is no reason we can't win games because we are competitive and we have good players. It is just making sure we are highly-organised and we limit the mistakes, because you can't gift good teams a goal.'

City's special win at the Theatre of Dreams should convince any doubters the Canaries can mix it with the best in the Premier League.

'Whatever game you go into you have a chance. I always believe that,' said Neil. 'Our performances so far this season against the bigger teams proves that. We drew 1-1 with Liverpool, we went to Chelsea and lost 1-0, from an error we made, and the same at Manchester City. We have always been competitive. We just felt if we limited the mistakes we would give ourselves a chance. It was about keeping ourselves in the game (at United) because we have enough quality to create chances.'