The days when Tottenham were capable of ending this fixture with nine men trying to pull off a high line against Nicolas Jackson are over, but on current evidence the decision to replace the excesses of Angeball with something more restrained and grown-up has merely invited soul-searching of a different nature.
The loud, sustained blast of booing that broke out when the final whistle arrived at the end of this sorry defeat to Chelsea said much about the identity crisis gripping the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. There are ways to lose a derby but Spurs chose one of the worst routes. They created almost nothing of note during an unremarkable game, so much so that they finished with an xG of 0.05, and it must have been worrying for Thomas Frank to hear unrest flare on more than one occasion in the stands.
There has been tentative progress under Frank, although most of it has come on the road. Spurs have taken 13 points from their past 19 home games, a record which represents the worst of any club to have been in the Premier League during that period, and mustered only one shot on target as they fell to their fifth consecutive defeat to Chelsea.
One goal was enough for Chelsea to climb into fourth place and go level on points with Spurs. João Pedro ended his barren run and Moisés Caicedo was superb in midfield. Chelsea, though, did not have to be anything more than clinical and efficient to win.
