Tottenham Hotspur might not have secured all three points away to Brighton & Hove Albion, but Thomas Frank must be satisfied with the way things are taking shape.
The Spurs boss replaced Ange Postecoglou in the summer and was tasked with creating a more stable project. Tottenham won the Europa League last year, but also languished to a 17th-place finish in the top flight.
Signings have been made, and while he's an imperfect player, Mohamed Kudus has offered much to the Lilywhites cause after signing from West Ham United for £55m in July.
Mohammed Kudus' start to life at Spurs
Kudus' shot somewhat fortuitously found Richarlison before the break, and so the Brazilian converted and halved the deficit, scoring a crucial goal that would lead to late parity.
The Ghanaian winger still needs to bring his clinical output into focus, but there's no denying he is a talented and effective winger, adding a dimension to Frank's project.
According to Sofascore, Kudus won eight duels and completed six dribbles across the afternoon, causing all sorts of problems for his opponents and whipping in the ball that ricocheted off Jan Paul van Hecke.
With three assists from five Premier League appearances for Tottenham, Kudus is coming into his own, bouncing back from a difficult campaign last year with the Hammers.
However, this isn't the biggest revival within the Spurs squad, with Destiny Udogie rising back up to the fore in a manner not dissimilar to that of Djed Spence last season.
Frank's own Djed Spence revival
When Spence was called up to Thomas Tuchel's latest England squad, it was a landmark moment in the 25-year-old full-back's development.
While Spence has revived his career over the past year, reinventing himself last year under Postecoglou's wing, Udogie's performance against Brighton underscored the importance of having a natural left-footer at left-back, working wonders for the side's progression.
Awarded an 8/10 match rating by football.london, the statistics perhaps don't tell the full story, with Udogie shackling - for the most part - the bright Yankuba Minteh and working effectively to build up patterns of offensive play down the left flank.
They also considered Udogie to have been the standout performer against the Seagulls.
Having struggled with injury and subsequent dips in form last year, the Italy international made his first start of the season here, with Frank hailing his "absolutely exceptional" performance and continuing to remark that he was "almost unstoppable going forward".
With Udogie fit and firing on all cylinders, Tottenham's backline will begin to look far more fluent, not just solidifying when facing the ball but opening up a more coherent build-up process too.
This is not to the discredit of Spence, who continues to go from strength to strength at the club, but instead highlights the quality of the 22-year-old, who now provides his manager with the very best kind of selection headache.
Kudus might have been directly involved in both of Tottenham's goals, but Udogie proved his worth as one of the most exciting full-backs in the Premier League, and under a new manager in Frank, this might just prove to be the start of something special.