Mauricio Pochettino said Spurs had “less in every respect” compared to the rest of the elite. Against the best team in England, Tottenham had fewer spectators than expected, not much time on the clock when Riyad Mahrez opened the scoring and no defence against the charge that their new stadium should have been ready by now.

They also had their two best attacking midfielders on the bench at the start of Monday night football – a term coined, appropriately, in American football – which is an important caveat. When fully fit, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen will surely lift Pochettino’s flagging spirits. But there was no mistaking the dip in the Tottenham manager’s outlook, or the doubts surrounding the club’s ability to keep pace with the best in the division.

Twenty-one points after nine games was Tottenham’s best start to a Premier League campaign but they never looked like beating City, even with Erik Lamela’s howler of a late miss. With no reinforcements and building delays at their ground, Spurs have done a fine job of grinning for the cameras. Their England stars returned weary but with reputations burnished.

If they could just get through those tricky first few weeks. Now, though, you can feel the strain, among the players and the fans. It was painfully apparent when Pochettino dropped the pretence in the run-up to this 1-0 defeat that he is content to be part of such a slow-moving project.