Last season made very little sense to Tottenham fans. A terrible Premier League campaign, an incredible night in Bilbao and a mercurial manager whose contradictions were reflected in his team.
This season was supposed to make more sense. Thomas Frank was brought in as a pragmatist who would strengthen Tottenham's core and put the team on a more rational footing.
Some of those things have happened but there have also been other, different problems arising as well - which makes taking stock at this stage of proceedings quite challenging.
It is difficult to move past the injury crisis that has deprived the new manager of his main three attacking and creative players.
Imagine a Mauricio Pochettino team without Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Christian Eriksen?
The Frank equivalent of Dominic Solanke, Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison means any assessment of Spurs from an attacking perspective so far this season is impossible.
We just do not know how good they can be yet.
From an organisational perspective, there are signs of clear improvement.
I have been struck by how much more the Tottenham players seem to sense danger and respond accordingly than last season.
The raft of away wins is impressive. The manner in which they have executed plans on the road has been refreshing.
Meanwhile progress in the Champions League, while not jaw-dropping, has been just that. Progress.
However these successful away days also help to make the home form look even worse.
The most egregious example being that horribly unimaginative defeat to Chelsea.
If you are Tottenham, you simply cannot play that badly against Chelsea. Or Arsenal. Or West Ham.
So far I think we have just seen indicators - both of how good Spurs can be and how bad.
When Frank has anything approximating a first-choice attacking line-up, it will be fascinating to see how he approaches games and what he asks his team to do.
The trouble is events so often derail plans and intentions in football. And the next event occurs next Sunday against You Know Who.
The away form suggests Spurs can pose some interesting questions.
Despite all the talk of time and renewal in the summer, this is another of those games where the margin for error is tiny.