Ronald Koeman has claimed that Everton have made an impressive start to the season because there is now "more belief" at Goodison Park.
Koeman swapped Southampton for Everton before the start of the 2016-17 campaign and has led the Toffees into second position in the Premier League table after winning four and drawing one of their five fixtures to date.
The Merseyside outfit fell one goal behind in Saturday's clash with Middlesbrough, but efforts from Gareth Barry, Seamus Coleman and Romelu Lukaku secured all the points for the home side.
"Once again our start was not good. It was not aggressive enough, we were not pressing enough. We have really improved a lot physically and we've brought in a lot of players with energy. There is more belief, spirit and the team works well together. That's been the big difference in my opinion," Koeman told BT Sport.
Roberto Martinez was sacked as Everton boss at the end of last season after the Toffees finished 11th in the table.