Thomas Frank has already played for silverware, travelled to the Etihad and overseen a North London Derby, yet a home game against Fulham has suddenly become the most significant fixture of his tenure so far.
The Dane has scuppered two huge opportunities to assert himself in N17 by overseeing victories, or at least admirable performances, in the pair of outings that matter most to the fanbase.
However, the brave, canny and courageous displays many believed Frank would facilitate when we encountered Chelsea and Arsenal were nowhere to be seen. Instead, Spurs produced the two worst attacking showings of the Premier League season so far, with the manager overemphasising the nullification of the opposition.
You don't quite get the feeling that Frank has left Brentford yet. The 52-year-old is still operating as if he's managing a club of, with all due respect, the Bees' aspirations. Now, their west London rivals, Fulham, have the chance to put serious pressure on the Dane when they visit N17 on Saturday night.
Clash with Fulham could be make or break for Tottenham boss
There's no overlooking just how chastening an experience last Sunday's North London Derby defeat was. Of course, Spurs were dire, but for some supporters, they came to a harrowing realisation that this Arsenal team may well do something special this season, having emerged as the Premier League's perpetual bridesmaids.
When we were meandering through our post-Mauricio Pochettino instant gratification identity crisis, the Gunners' woes supplied solace. Now, though, Mikel Arteta's side struggle to lose games of football, and that makes our current malaise much harder to stomach. For local supporters, the unbearable Gooner lurks with intent on piling on the misery, while the ubiquitous medium of social media means we're subject to the thoughts of those supporting our bitterest rivals from across the globe against our will.
Arsenal's success thrusts a feeling of impatience upon us, ironically so given the rebuild Arteta had to undergo in order to lift the Gunners into their current position.
The harsh reality is that Frank is unlikely to get the time that was afforded to Arteta, who coached through the bleakest part of his tenure while there we no supporters in stadia across the country due to Covid.
Frank is instead subject to fierce judgment from a home faithful that demands to be entertained, akin to the Romans who enjoyed days out at the Colosseum. The majority would be all too keen to deliver a thumbs down (if we were living in Ridley Scott's idea of gladiatorial times) in the manager's direction, with the primitive and insipid performances the Lilywhites have produced in N17 hardly worthy of mercy.
Spurs are still without a Premier League win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium since the opening weekend of the season, and the failure to secure a second this weekend will undoubtedly feel like the end times.
The stars are aligning for a diabolical evening, with Fulham winless on the road, but a spirited showing in the week against Paris Saint-Germain should at least spark some optimism. Sure, it ended in a 5-3 defeat, but that felt like Frank at his best: adaptable and aggressive.
One-off ploys aren't sustainable, though, and the manager desperately needs to impose a style that ensures games such as Saturday night's duel aren't miserable slogs reliant upon variance pulling in our favour. His squad isn't perfect, but there's talent at his disposal that hasn't been maximised yet, with risk-aversion and apparent defensive security undermining the potential fun elements of this Tottenham team.
Playmakers haven't yet come to the fore, while youth has either been used sparingly or erroneously.
Still, there's no reason why the "intelligent" Frank can't evolve. He's been a disappointment so far, but the Dane deserves a little more time to at least attempt to put things right, and implement ideals that are capable of appeasing a fanbase that's seemingly never wanted to endure the "painful rebuild" Poch warned about all those years ago.