Tottenham's draw at the Brentford Community Stadium was not only disappointing in isolation, but also due to the poor performance against Brighton that came just a week before. Spurs now find themselves fifth in the Premier League table, two points behind fourth-placed Arsenal and with five games left to play.
Antonio Conte's side seemed to be finding form once again, scoring nine goals in two games, against Newcastle and Aston Villa. That was then followed by two games where the Lilywhites have failed to have a single shot on target.
The hopes of securing Champions League football for next season are still alive, despite the blow, but some problems could be arising for Conte. Apart from a couple of rotations, he has been forced into making due to injuries, the Italian has kept largely the same starting line-up for a large chunk of Tottenham's matches.
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Spurs' front three of Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulusevski who had played so well in recent games were far from their best against Thomas Frank's side. The trio had six shots on goal between them, with none on target.
Conte's first substitution didn't come until the 74th minute and the Italian has made a habit of making late substitutions, even when Tottenham aren't playing at their best. There is an argument over whether this is because the Italian is stuck in his ways, or if it is due to the lack of quality on the Spurs bench.
Kane had a slow start to the season, was then finding form again, but has been one of the players that has seen a dip in the last couple of games. After the 0-0 draw to Brentford, Ledley King revealed why the England captain could be struggling.
"I think with Harry, teams are sensing that Tottenham like to build up through Harry. They are really doubling up on him at times and getting bodies around him and making it difficult and that seems to have taken Tottenham out their momentum," King admitted.
It was a special game for many of the Spurs players and fans, as they got to see Christian Eriksen play again, for the first time since his return to the Premier League. In his post match interview, the Dane spoke about Tottenham's predictability.
"I think we knew what they were coming with. I've played with Conte and I know the system he likes to play, and we trained in the week how we thought they would play and they played the way we expected," Eriksen explained.
"Harry and Sonny are two exceptional players, and they have a good team and a good structure so of course we need to be sharp and I think everyone was really. I think this week I've been more involved in a set-up towards a game than I've ever been involved before.
"Of course, Thomas came to me a few times and asked 'what this like', but of course he knew. Everyone who plays against Tottenham and against Conte's system, they know most of the time how they're going to play, and of course he knew," Eriksen added.
"He asked a few tips and a few structure things, but in the end, it was him setting the team - I didn't control any of that. But he saw it right."
It would of course have been a boost to have someone like Eriksen in the Bees side, who not only played at Spurs for years, but has also played under Conte. With the Italian being so stuck in his ways, in terms of tactics and formation, teams are clearly starting to figure out ways to stop his plans from working.
There doesn't seem to be much of a plan B for the Tottenham side. This is partly down to some of the Spurs players not making the required impact, but you would maybe expect a serial winner like Conte to be able to adapt when things aren't going as planned on the pitch.
The likes of Man City and Liverpool play with very similar setups each week, but the quality of their individual players and team as a whole, means their tactics work more often than not. This is why the summer transfer market is massive for the Lilywhites.
If Conte stays at Tottenham and is able to bring in some quality players, his ideas aren't likely to need to change, as the team will be improved by the incomings. The Italian was asked about tweaking his system in his post-match press conference, but he seemed confident in his setup that has worked so well in the past.
In the final stretch of the season, Spurs either need to step up and rediscover the form they were showing just a few games ago, or Conte needs to assess if and where he can make some changes.
