Goals from Mateo Pellegrino, Wilfried Gnonto and Pedro Goncalves saw off a much-changed Pisa side at the Franchi, extending Vanoli's perfect start since returning to the club to two wins from two matches, following his earlier win at Venezia in Serie A.
"For me, Venezia represented a fresh start," Vanoli said. "We did well to continue what we want to become: a team with talent that's united. Tonight there was continuity in that, even if there's still plenty to work on."
Vanoli was full of praise for midfielder Amir Oulai, comparing the young Ivorian to a player he had previously coached.
"For me he's a little Kante, I coached him and I see a lot of similarities. Sometimes you need to hold him back because he has so much enthusiasm, but he has enormous scope to improve. With Fagioli I have two great midfielders."
Asked about the improvement compared to earlier in the year, Vanoli pointed to the defensive solidity shown against Pisa as a marker of progress for a young squad.
"You can't compare this team to last year's. Last year there were problems, I struggled to reach the objective quickly. But we picked up points in the second half of the season. This year is different. The squad is young, hungry, it's a sponge for everything I tell them," he said. "Tonight we didn't concede, and as a former defender that matters a lot to me - it means we're becoming a team."
On Pellegrino's recent scoring form, Vanoli joked about the striker's pre-match claims.
"I'll pull his ears, because in the press conference he said he was preparing a barbecue and I haven't seen anything," Vanoli said, laughing, before turning serious. "He's different to Beto - the Portuguese loves attacking in behind, the Argentine is more of a target for others to play off. They're both really important players."
Vanoli also explained his substitution pattern in midfield, insisting it reflected squad rotation rather than any particular message to his players.
"I have options that let me vary things. This team needs to play with a double pivot, because Atta and Goncalves are more useful to me inside the pitch," he said. "Gnonto does more of the dirty work for me and had a great match tonight. I'm managing Goncalves' minutes carefully because he isn't at his physical best yet, but when he came on he completely changed our tempo."