It's not just the improved mood from the 1-1 draw with Liverpool and 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid that went out the window with that stunning 3-0 home loss to Nottingham Forest. It was all the emotion and unity that came from that Copa Libertadores-style build-up.
As one figure with knowledge of the Spurs dressing room pondered afterwards, "How can you receive that welcome and not react to the enormity of it? They should have come out pumped."
The irony is that there was some reaction. Spurs started the game well and looked like they were channeling that energy into a workable plan. They even seemed to have Forest's number.
Then came the sucker punch. All that adrenaline seeped away, leaving the gameplan and the entire approach in tatters. A fragile team just couldn't shift gears.
What a moment for Vítor Pereira's first Premier League win as Forest boss. And what a contrast.
It's remarkable to compare the scenes before the game, with the support trying to power Spurs to something more, to the final few minutes.
The overriding sense is one of waste. Spurs won't be able to conjure that build-up again, at least not in the same way. This was the moment.
The club will once again have to try something – anything – different. Spurs also have to be sensitive, given that Igor Tudor has just suffered a personal bereavement, with news that his father sadly passed. Football is utterly trivial next to that, but the professional demands remain serious for the club hierarchy.
Having looked like they had secured a reprieve, Spurs are somehow in a worse position than before. Most directly, they're in 17th rather than 16th. A step closer to relegation. But maybe that sense of waste is entirely fitting for a season characterised by it. See Chelsea, and the expense that has gone into that.
They look so different to the team that destroyed Villa 4-1 at the start of the month.
There's another aspect of that result that now feels remarkable. It was one of just two victories – including Villa's 2-0 over West Ham – that Chelsea, Villa and Liverpool have managed over the last three matchweeks. The form of the trio has been dismal.
Before Villa's win on Sunday, they had one point from 12. Chelsea now have five from 18, Liverpool one from nine.
This is often the case with chasing Champions League sides, and it's easily forgotten each season. Being clubs with the resources to fight for the title, anything below that represents underperformance – which naturally brings inconsistency. But inconsistency as bad as this? That may be true, yet it's impossible not to feel this has been abnormally poor. Both Liverpool and Chelsea look broken.
Villa, for their part, are still overperforming just by being in the top five. And if there were any "football justice", one of the perceived mid-table sides would join them in qualifying for the Champions League.
Against such underperformance from the wealthiest teams, it could be fairly said that Brentford, Everton, Fulham, Sunderland and Bournemouth are all overperforming.
With that part of the table so volatile, the question is whether one of them could end up on top of the shuffle by the end of the season.
Everton and Brentford must be fancying it. The two managers, David Moyes and Keith Andrews, deserve immense credit. Through all of this, it's fair to say that this has been another "mid-table" season, much like last year. The middle classes are certainly enjoying themselves more than many of the elite.
Even they, however, must keep guessing about what comes next.
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