We live in an age of knee-jerk reaction, of instant judgment.

On planet football, life is either black or white, good or bad. Opinions change like traffic lights, one day a manager can be flavor of the month — one bad result and he'll be gone inside a month.

Tottenham has three points more than at this stage last season, so statistically it is doing better after 12 games than a year ago. There is a strong argument, then, that the side has improved.