Roberto De Zerbi gave his first indication of how he wants his new Tottenham team to set up during his first match in charge away at Sunderland on Sunday.
It is a new system for the players to get used to, having seen Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor come and go in N17.
They do not have long to get up to speed, with Spurs staring down the barrel of relegation to the Championship and out of the top tier of the English football pyramid for the first time since 1977.
Roberto De Zerbi Ball Needs To Improve Quickly
The Lilywhites are two points adrift of safety, dropping into the relegation zone for the first time this season at the weekend.
De Zerbi set up in his trusted 4-2-3-1 formation, and while Spurs looked much better on the ball, they did not have the cut and thrust up front to get themselves a goal and remained vulnerable at the back. At times it was almost a 4-1-2-3 formation, with Archie Gray sitting in front of the back line, but not really being utilised.
One player who did not get much of a chance to impress his new boss was Xavi Simons - Spurs big £51million signing from the summer.
It is fair to say that the Dutchman took a long time to settle into life in the Premier League, but there have been signs of his growing presence and adaptation in the last few months, although with a struggling team around him, how much can really be expected from him?
Yet De Zerbi only threw him on for the final six minutes - plus injury-time - of the match at the Stadium of Light - barely giving him a chance to get on the ball.
The Italian had namechecked the 22-year-old in his press conference before the match, describing him as a "big talent" and explained the lack of minutes afterwards too.
He said: "I changed three players, then after Romero's injury there was on the pitch Kolo Muani and Udogie. I didn't know when Udogie could finish. Without Romero's injury, Xavi would have come on before."
Simons has been sparingly used, not just under De Zerbi now, but under Frank and Tudor before him. He averages just over an hour on the pitch in his 26 Premier League appearances so far this season, starting 17 of them.
Xavi Simons Has Been Out Of Favour With More Than One Spurs Boss
But there is a real argument he should be starting more often.
Simons arrived at Tottenham on August 29, missing the first three games of the season - the third at home to Bournemouth was played the day after he joined.
Since then he has been unavailable for three games due to suspension, following a sending off against Liverpool, but has played a part in every other match.
Tottenham have only won 12 games since he arrived at the club - highlighting just why they are in the trouble they are, but an interesting statistic has emerged from those 12 wins. Simons has started 11 of those 12 wins - the only one he missed was the victory over Crystal Palace in December because of that red card suspension.
Now, Spurs have lost plenty of games with Simons in the starting lineup, so we're not suggesting when he starts they win, but when Spurs do win, he is almost always in the starting lineup.
He is not the only one. Unsurprisingly Guglielmo Vicario has also played 11 of those 12 matches - only missing the Carabao Cup win over Doncaster - given he is Spurs' first choice No.1.
There is a third player who would appear to be undroppable and that is Pedro Porro, having also played in 11 of those 12 wins since Simons joined the club.
Simons has been ignored by Tudor and, having been left out of De Zerbi's first starting lineup, seems to be out of favour early with the new man in charge at Spurs and there are clear reasons why he should not be.