Spurs had a £5.6m bid rejected by Santos last summer and then ended their interest when it became clear Diego would not be able to get an Italian passport as quickly as first envisaged.
Pleat now wants his squad to bounce back from Saturday's 4-0 drubbing at Newcastle by reaching a place in the semi-finals of the Carling Cup. Spurs face Middlesbrough in the quarter-finals at White Hart Lane tomorrow night and while Pleat admits he has sacrificed creativity for hard work since he took charge, he is hoping a good cup run will breed enough confidence to allow them to climb up the Premiership table.
Pleat added: "We have kept a steady ship. We've not been spectacular and I've compensated for sacrificing a bit of guile and creativity. We have had to work hard to defend to keep the goals against column down and the response to Saturday will be very important for us.
"Everybody wants a cup run and that is the perception in the supporters' minds but I also think success breeds success."
Meanwhile, veteran midfielder Gus Poyet has warned his team-mates they must learn quickly from the defeat at St James' Park.
Poyet says he is baffled by the way Spurs just didn't have the ability to counter Newcastle's superiority in the second half.
Poyet said: "They changed a little bit and we didn't know how to react, we didn't know how to change the game. Sometimes when they start pressing you and making things difficult, you must change your game and do something different.
"I think we should think about it as players and be professional, ready for tomorrow. I don't like it when people say 'it's gone'. It has gone, but why? Why did we have this 4-0 game away from home? It is something to think about."
