The attacking football was far more pleasing on the eye for Tottenham's fans, but Nuno Espirito Santo will also have seen plenty to cheer him when it came to the defence.
While Ollie Watkins' goal for Aston Villa might suggest otherwise, there were defensive positives galore to be taken for the Portuguese.
Spurs' backline did not concede a single goal in the Premier League in August, with three consecutive clean sheets.
September destroyed that with three goals apiece conceded in each of the three derbies the team played in the Premier League.
For the match against Aston Villa, Espirito Santo chose the same back four that were on the receiving end against Chelsea.
However, there were differences this time. Cristian Romero and Eric Dier were two of Spurs' better players that day in mid-September, but two weeks down the line both Romero, as well as right-back Emerson Royal, are now at a more advanced stage in their adaptation into the defence.
The defence were also helped this time around by the presence of Oliver Skipp in front of them, forming a shield alongside or behind Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
Ahead of the game, Skipp had shared with football.london what Espirito Santo has been working with him and it was all on display against Villa.
"First and foremost [there is] the trust he has given me to play a lot of minutes so far but also I feel he is very concise with his instructions on the training field," he said.
"I feel a lot of his work is done on the training field whereas perhaps other managers may be more video related, but I think there is things definitely added to my game, for example trying to stay a bit more central, for turnovers when we lose the ball I am the shield for the defence.
"Just little things like that, my positioning, he is a manager that I can definitely learn off and improve my game."
Skipp made numerous tackles and interceptions and his words about his training proved to be spot on in transferring it to a match situation.
The performance of Romero will have cheered Espirito Santo especially in the backline because the Spurs boss has big hopes for the Argentine.
"We need to be patient with all the players because this is the Premier League," the head coach had said in August.
"When a player changes country we need to realise that we need to support him. But honestly I think with the quality and talent that Romero has, his adaptation will be very fast."
That post-international break isolation period and a couple of niggles with his knee injury from the Copa America final have meant that the 23-year-old's adaptation has been slightly fragmented.
However, after back-to-back starts on Thursday and Sunday, Romero is looking like the Serie A Defender of the Year Spurs had been desperate to sign and the player Lionel Messi wanted at Barcelona.
The Argentina international has a bit of everything. He's selectively aggressive in the tackle and does not give the attacker a moment to dally on the ball, but he's also very good at reading the game and composed in what he does.
When he has the ball at his own feet, there's a touch of Toby Alderweireld about his passing, with plenty of accurate long, crossfield balls on Sunday, but with an added confidence to bring the ball out of defence and dribble up the pitch in the vein of Jan Vertonghen.
If Tottenham have signed a player who can eventually become a blend of two of their best defenders of recent years then they will have hit the jackpot.
It's still early days though and the impetuous nature of youth was on display in the second half with his late lunge in the build-up to Watkins' goal, which left him out of position and Eric Dier having to come across to cover and in doing so leaving space for the Villa striker to profit.
Around the goal, Dier was also excellent on the day, his decision-making from the top drawer in his challenges, headers and interceptions.
Emerson also put in his best display since joining, with some strong defending even if the attacking side of his game needs to continue to develop.
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Hugo Lloris barely had a save of note to make, despite coming up against two of the Premier League's more potent strikers of recent seasons in Watkins and Danny Ings.
Before the game, Lloris was tested thoroughly in the warm-up as Pierluigi Gollini and Brandon Austin hit deep balls into the six-yard box and goalkeeper coach Rui Barbosa jostled with Lloris to put him off trying to catch or punch the ball away.
It was preparation for the long Rory Delap-style throws of Matt Cash, who hurls flat long balls into the danger area.
On the day though, the defenders and even the likes of Harry Kane and Lucas Moura got their head to many of Cash's throws. Spurs were well prepared at the back and it showed.
The performance in both halves was exactly what Espirito Santo and Tottenham needed and it could have been even better for the defence and attack.
The head coach will now be hoping that this international break is not as cruel as the last and most importantly of all no momentum is lost, because this was something for he and the players to build on.
