Even Antonio Conte seems unable to change the nature of Tottenham: the Premier League side was stunned by Slovenian club NS Mura who defeated Spurs 2-1 in the Europa Conference League.
Conte who had heavily rotated the squad for the game did not mince his words after the game.
"After three weeks I am starting to understand the situation. It is not simple," the former Chelsea boss said, as quoted by Sky Sports. "At this moment the level at Tottenham is not so high.
"I must be honest and tell you that after three-and-a-half weeks, I am starting to understand the situation. I can tell you that the situation is not simple. It is not simple because in this moment for sure the level of Tottenham is not so high.
"There is an important gap to the top teams in England. Of this we must not be scared. I am here to work, here to improve the situation. I know that in this moment we need to have patience, time and I am here because I know there are problems to solve.
"After three-and-a-half weeks, I am happy to stay here but at the same time I must be honest and tell you we need to work a lot to improve the quality of the [current] squad. We are Tottenham and Tottenham in this moment, there is an important gap.
"If someone thinks that a new coach arrives and Conte won in the past and then I am a magician. But the only magic I can do is to work. To bring work and work to improve, to bring my methods, my ideas of football. But we have to understand that we need time."
It's quite likely that Tottenham will be knocked out of Europe's third-biggest club competition at the group stage as they are level on points with Vitesse and are four points behind Rennes who they face in the final game.
It was always going to take time for Conte to rebuild Spurs, but now he appears to understand that there's even more work for him to do than he anticipated.
