Antonio Conte’s performance the season he won the league with Chelsea was spectacularly brilliant, but things have moved on since then.
No team bar Conte’s Chelsea has won the Premier League playing three at the back; the standard at the top of the table is far higher now than it was then.
Of the current top five, only Conte’s Spurs play a plodding, cautious, constipated style that makes watching them an imposition.
Much as Conte likes to trumpet his achievement in qualifying Spurs for the Champions League, they were poor last season, it just so happened other teams were worse, and their run in the competition served only to show how far off his team are – despite a summer spend of roughly £150m – and how far off he is, having made the last eight once in six attempts.