Yet again, Tottenham Hotspur fell behind against Crystal Palace last weekend but the belief and collective quality under Ange Postecoglou saw a dramatic turnaround in the late stage to keep at the heels of fourth-placed Aston Villa.
Tottenham travel to Villa Park on Sunday and will cut their deficit to just two points despite having played a game less, with the much-improved efforts in the Premier League a product of the focused vision and polished synergy after last year's struggle.
Postecoglou has a plan, and Daniel Levy will likely be prepared to provide the craggy-faced Australian with the requisite time and tools to create a prosperous future, having ousted multiple managers over recent years, qualifying for the Champions League just once since 2019/20.
Jurgen Klopp required years to bring silverware to Liverpool; Mikel Arteta flattered to deceive in the early stage of his Arsenal tenure; even Pep Guardiola's maiden campaign with Manchester City yielded indifference, finishing third in the Premier League.
The early stirrings of success have been discernible and Postecoglou deserves credit for marrying into Levy's way of life as chairman, astute transfer business charging an entertaining and attack-minded squad.
Struggling members of the outfit have been moved on, with Tanguy Ndombele and Davinson Sanchez joining Galatasaray, Eric Dier moving to Munich and Guglielmo Vicario replacing former captain Hugo Lloris between the sticks, the ageing Frenchman dismal last term.
James Maddison and Co have been immense since completing transfers to Spurs but the cream of the crop has to be Micky van de Ven, who has reminded Tottenham what it means to defend, doing so with unseen athleticism and unparalleled speed.
Micky van de Ven's season in numbers
Throughout the summer, Tottenham and Liverpool were two of the top Premier League clubs well-known to be perusing the market for a new centre-back, and while Klopp's Reds were interested in securing Van de Ven's services, it was Spurs who won the race.
Signing the Dutchman from German club Wolfsburg for a fee approaching £43m in August, there were a few raised eyebrows as Tottenham spent big to improve their backline, but Van de Ven has put any rumours regarding his quality to bed with his brilliant displays in north London.
Last season, the crux of Tottenham's eighth-placed finish in the Premier League was the dreadful defensive organisation and solidity, with the 63 goals shipped higher than all but the relegated teams and newly-promoted survivors Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest.
Praised for his "dominant" and "complete" displays in the Bundesliga by talent scout Jacek Kulig, Van de Ven excelled upon arriving in England and formed a formidable partnership with Cristian Romero in the rearguard across the opening months, with Tottenham top of the table and undefeated after ten fixtures, only for the 22-year-old to pick up a muscular injury against Chelsea in November, kicking off a dour period of form.
With Van de Ven
17
36
23
37
2.2
Without Van de Ven
9
19
14
13
1.4
As per Sofascore, the 6 foot 4 titan has completed 95% of his passes in the Premier League across 17 appearances, incredibly averaging 5.9 ball recoveries per game – and 2.9 clearances and 1.8 tackles – succeeding with 63% of his dribbles and winning a whopping 68% of his ground duels. For good measure, he is also the quickest player in the division.
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The table above delineates his importance within Postecoglou's system, and it's worth noting too that the dynamic defender was withdrawn in the early phase against Chelsea, with a subsequent sequence of red cards resulting in a 4-1 home defeat.
He also ranks among the top 3% of centre-halfs across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for pass completion, the top 2% for successful take-ons and the top 15% for progressive carries per 90, as per FBref, highlighting the incredible physical attributes that provide Van de Ven with a singular skill set.
Signing Van de Ven was a masterful piece of business for resurgent Tottenham and highlights the progress being made at N17, especially given this talented player is only on £50k per week.
The above-mentioned flops have been shipped on but that was not an exhaustive list, with Harry Winks also sold to relegated Leicester City in a £10m transfer last summer, remarkably still pocketing higher earnings than Van de Ven.
Why Harry Winks left Spurs
Winks was once considered a valuable and industrious member of Tottenham's team since making his senior debut as a Lilywhite back in 2014.
But while he chalked up 203 appearances for the club, the 28-year-old started just 18 Premier League matches across his final two campaigns in London, shipped out on loan to Serie A side Sampdoria last term before moving to the King Power Stadium to aid Leicester in their bid for an instantaneous return to the big time.
Admittedly, he did a job for Tottenham for large periods and boasts a career passing accuracy of 90.1%, highlighting his crisp passing quality and the composure that he can instil in the centre of the park, but he waned after a promising rise from the formative fold and was even branded as "not good enough" by former manager Alex McLeish later on.
While he has been the centrepiece of Championship table-toppers Leicester's season, it's hard to imagine that he would have secured a regular starting berth under Postecoglou, albeit offering attributes that might have left him well-equipped for a utility role in the squad.
Nonetheless, he never lived up to his potential and despite costing a grand total of nothing for Levy, his wages across the many years of his time at the club leaked a ballpark figure of £25m, with his £91k-per-week salary before moving to Leicester too much for one too ineffectual.
Moreover, since dropping down a division, Winks is still earning more than Van de Ven currently does, taking home £61k per week under Enzo Maresca.
Winks is hardly at the bottom of Tottenham's player pyramid across the past decade but undoubtedly he could have offered more after displaying such promise in his early years, and the fact that Van de Ven still earns less than he does in the Championship bespeaks the new judiciousness at the centre of Spurs' recruitment strategy.
