Thomas Frank had hatched Tottenham's plan for PSG the day after the heavy Bayern defeat. The 3-5-2 was a formation the Dane had used frequently at Brentford and he knew it would give Spurs a more solid foundation to deal with the French side's incredible quality.
The players worked on it in training from that point on, with Kevin Danso slotting in alongside new captain Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven. Up top Mohammed Kudus, with his strength and touch, worked on collecting the second balls from Richarlison's aerial play and both players were prepared to hold the ball up to allow Spurs time to breathe when they got out from underneath the PSG pressure.
On Wednesday night in Udine it all looked to be working exactly to the plan and Frank's coach Andreas Georgson had drilled the set piece and restart work into the players.
PSG could not handle the combinations of deep free-kicks from the likes of Pedro Porro and Udine-local Guglielmo Vicario as well as Kevin Danso's long flat throws, delivered effortlessly like a man flicking a pea across a room.
Romero was heavily involved, his header from Vicario's long kick landing at Joao Palhinha's feet for a shot that Lucas Chevalier tipped on to the crossbar before it bounced to Van de Ven to stroke home.
That man Romero was again there after the break, unmarked to meet Porro's cross and Chevalier made a meal of trying to stop the Argentine's header from creeping inside the left-hand post.
Spurs caused issues every time they got forward. Richarlison had a shot tipped over in the first half, Danso headed into the side-netting in the second period, Rodrigo Bentancur sent a header over and Pape Matar Sarr was brought down while surging towards goal for what might well have been a third for the north London side.
Then Tottenham tired, the substitutions were not able to match the levels of the players they were replacing either due to a lack of sharpness or being at a lower level and PSG threw on their fresh talent.
Subs Lee Kang-in and Goncalo Ramos' goals in the final minutes would swing the game back into the balance and the dreaded penalty shoot-out would tip it the French side's way as the unfortunate Van de Ven and Mathys Tel could not find the net.
"I knew we had to do something a little bit different against PSG," said Frank. "It was a special operation. In medical terms, the operation succeeded but the patient died. So not that good in the end. But we worked on a game plan that was a little bit different and (it was) very close to succeeding."
PSG boss Luis Enrique admitted afterwards: "Tottenham deserved much more. They played better than us. Football is sometimes unfair. I'm happy for that but I must say it was unfair
"To be honest, I’m not sure we deserved this trophy. The difference was stark between Tottenham. They’ve had six weeks of preparation and we’ve had six days. It was huge and we were trying to play our football and just couldn’t for the first 80 minutes. We had a lot of poor passes and maybe we were lucky. Lady Luck was smiling on us."
For Frank and Tottenham, while the trophy would have been a huge instant boost to the Dane's era, this was still an important piece of evidence that the foundations are starting to form the structure he wants to use. He just needs to be able to replace like for like.
That falls upon those sat in the stand above the dugout in Udine. Spurs' technical director Johan Lange was sat alongside the club's former managing director of football Fabio Paratici.
The Italian has a consultancy contract with Tottenham until the end of this summer transfer window and with his global ban for the events at Juventus now completed, Paratici is expected to eventually return in a more official capacity at the north London club.
The 53-year-old has remained a constant presence at Spurs matches, often at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in a box in the West Stand as a guest of various agents, but this was the most public of outings alongside Lange. The two men, both vastly different characters, are said to mesh well together with their different skillsets.
Lange could be seen speaking with the FA's chief football officer Dan Ashworth at one point and when the Dane went down into stadium at half-time, Paratici remained in his seat, deep in conversation with his phone to his ear. Gone were the white wired earphones that Spurs fans would assume meant a deal was being negotiated.
Right now Frank needs Lange and Paratici to help Spurs make a statement in the transfer market. While his tactics were spot on against PSG, the lack of a creative playmaker was glaring with both James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski long-term absentees.
football.london reported last week that some around Crystal Palace were expecting a bid from Spurs for Eberechi Eze and that now looks to be coming to pass.
Whether Tottenham have been driven into action by those number 10 issues or simply the realisation that Arsenal appeared to have stepped away from pursuing the England international, the route now appears to be clearer with Eze keen on the move.
The key as always is whether Spurs can strike a deal with Palace that ensures the 27-year-old makes his way across the capital, for any prolonged negotiations will keep the door ajar for other clubs to enter.
Spurs have looked at Eze in the past and while there is no denying his quality, there were question marks at times over the years among analysts when it came to his physical data.
Eze is a player who has undoubted ability but was previously looked at by some clubs as covering less ground than others in his position. That may have been then because of contributing factors such as the systems he played in or as a consequence of the injuries he has suffered, bringing some caution or a lowering of his workload to pick and choose his sprints.
Nowadays under Oliver Glasner, Palace have to run and Eze would certainly bring that touch of magic within Frank's solid structure and would be required to run a lot within it, with the number 10 under the Dane an energetic and constantly pressing playmaker. Think of a bee buzzing around the opposition half without stopping and you'll get the sense of the role. It's why Morgan Gibbs-White was seen as the perfect fit for the Dane's system and why Frank had wanted him for years.
Eze is certainly top quality though and that he can also play out wide would hand the new Spurs head coach plenty of options when other players return from fitness.
Either way, Glasner will be floored if he must let Eze go with the player having contributed 25 goal involvements in 43 matches. The Austrian will likely put up the biggest fight at the club to keep the midfielder, having lost Michael Olise last summer and potentially Marc Guehi this window to prevent him leaving on a free next year.
Spurs want to make it a big transfer double by bringing in Manchester City's Savinho to increase the excitement and creativity down the wing to help fill the gap left by Son Heung-min's exit to LAFC.
The Brazilian adapted quicker than many expected to the Premier League while being just 20-years-old.
Now 21, it is all about how much Spurs will bid to tempt City to part with the young winger, who has plenty of big game experience despite his age.
Lange has back-up options to both Eze and Savinho, but they would both be huge gets if Tottenham could prise both away.
Frank would get two ready-made Premier League stars with plenty of experience of the top level and Eze ready to make that step up to the Champions League.
Adding both would take Spurs into the kind of spending bracket that their Premier League rivals have undertaken this summer.
Tottenham need to keep up, let alone close the gap, on those above them and the arrival of both players, if their clubs can be convinced, would be a statement of intent that would take Spurs' transfer window from disappointing to top drawer with just two flourishes of a fountain pen.
The man who has to push the button on such deals, chairman Daniel Levy, was not in Italy for the big match. His daughter is starting university in the USA, so the 63-year-old was there with her and the rest of the family which meant he had to miss the game.
That meant Spurs CEO Vinai Venkatesham was left to carry out all the official acts as the head club man in Udine. At the game, he sat one side of UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin, with PSG owner Nasser Al-Khelaifi on the other.
Venkatesham is now one of those at Tottenham who have the power to decide what the season ahead holds for Frank and the players. The club wants to compete with the best and the Dane has shown that he can set up a team to tackle them in one-off games but he needs the quality to consistently battle them across matches every three days.
That's why this Saturday's Premier League opener against Burnley will offer as much of an insight into the Frank era as the game against PSG.
Goals have not exactly been a bountiful thing this pre-season so far under the Dane. Partially that is down to the available personnel but also the team not quite clicking yet in the attacking areas.
The majority of Spurs' goals this summer so far have been scored by centre-backs, thanks to their set piece improvements, with Brennan Johnson and Will Lankshear, now at Oxford United on loan, the only attackers to hit the back of the net.
Spurs now have a way to play against the big sides who will come at them and they will try to pick them off on the press around the pitch.
How though will Frank deal with teams that sit back with the expectation placed more often than not on Tottenham to attack and get behind a side with a low block?
Saturday will also bring a need to change the Spurs starting XI, once again highlighting any drop in quality.
Spurs flew back to England on Thursday morning and those who played against PSG will have had a recovery day, meaning they will only train the day before the game against Scott Parker's side.
A back three is unlikely on Saturday due to the current lack of centre-backs - with Frank wanting Spurs to sign another - and some players who were cramping up during the game and had to come off or remained on in pain, surely won't be wheeled out again 48 hours after landing back in the country.
Someone like Palhinha, who was a huge presence against PSG, could struggle to start again so soon after the night in Udine.
The 30-year-old was starting only his second game for Spurs following his loan move from Bayern Munich, where he had played little in previous months due to the post-Club World Cup break.
After Palhinha was taken off in the 72nd minute due to that lack of match fitness, so Tottenham lost some of their shape and eventually conceded those two late goals.
Before then, Palhinha could be seen, while still in his full kit, pushing his team-mates on in the technical area behind Thomas Frank following his substitution, dishing out instructions and telling certain players to calm down in possession.
He was such an animated presence among the coaches that the fourth official had to come over and warn him to go and sit with his fellow withdrawn players.
Palhinha believes something is coming this season for Tottenham.
"I think we showed what we are here to get in the future. I think we have all the conditions to achieve this season and I think the future will bring us something special," he said.
"We played against a top opponent, a top game, but in the Premier League and also in every single league, they are top games. We cannot relax, and the good thing now is we have another game on Saturday to change the things and start on the right foot in the Premier League."
Frank could bring in Lucas Bergvall and Brennan Johnson among others, while the Dane's early morning press conference on Friday will deliver the latest update on the perennial disappointment Yves Bissouma.
Many could point to the soon-to-be 29-year-old's disciplinary-enforced absence as being key, for he could have replaced Palhinha in that second half.
Then there is Mathys Tel, who appears to have already become the scapegoat for the 2025/26 season and even worse, subject to racist abuse which the club condemned strongly on social media on Thursday.
Football 'supporters', if that's the right word in the current era, gives a voice to those on social media who want to do anything but support.
Tel's team-mate Solanke wrote in an Instagram story: "Pathetic. Will it ever stop? Anyone can miss a penalty. Big up bro for taking one."
If a 20-year-old can get abused after his first competitive game of the season and being brave enough for stepping up to take a penalty on such an occasion then what hope is there for anyone?
Who knows what other stars of the past would have received and ended up had social media existed in its current state back then. Gareth Bale may never have become the player at Spurs that he did after that long stretch without winning a game for the club because he would have been hounded out long before that night in the San Siro.
Players are expected to be computer game characters now, able to perform whatever their age without a need to settle, develop or adapt. If Lamine Yamal can do it, why can't anyone, is the cry.
The Tottenham players, staff and the true supporters will gather around Tel as they did for Johnson last season and countless others over the years.
The irony is when people mention a generational talent like Yamal, Tel moved to Bayern Munich at just 17 for £25m from Rennes. That doesn't happen if you're not a footballer with a huge amount of potential.
Bayern sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic said at the time that Tel was "one of the biggest talents in Europe" and "there were a lot of clubs who wanted to sign him".
"I have a vision that he'll one day score 40 goals a season," the then Bayern manager Julian Nagelsmann said.
Tel could play this weekend as all eyes will turn to the first game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in three months. Palhinha is certainly looking forward to what lies ahead.
"I think it's the beginning of a journey together. It's a new team for me as well. Tottenham is a great club. It has all the conditions to achieve good things. It showed in the past and for sure it will show again in the future. I shared the dressing room with top players as well," said the experienced midfielder.
"We have a top coach who is a top human being. I think we have all the conditions together to achieve good things. I think we just need to be with our heads up and keep fighting because the journey is really long. But as I said, Saturday starts a new journey for us as a team and we are really motivated for the beginning of the Premier League."
A new season is upon us and Tottenham need to be prepared both on the pitch and off it. For as the old adage goes, fail to prepare and you must prepare to fail.
The club know they need to make a splash this summer after those big proclamations following the Europa League triumph.
That splash, backed with an expected injection of funds, needs to help Spurs swim powerfully through one of the biggest seasons in recent memory rather than sink before it's even got going.
