Behind an emotional homecoming for Son Heung-min and 15,000 empty seats all that mattered to Thomas Frank were a few tangible signs of progress.
These included the momentum of another win, forward players among the goals and combinations forging the sort of fluency expected when Tottenham venture into Europe.
Defenders charged up-field and left Frank’s team strangely vulnerable at the back at times, but their lapses were not punished by mediocre opposition.
Somehow, Spurs added a clean sheet to the list of positive factors and there could easily have been many more goals to celebrate had they been more clinical with their chances.
More serious tests lie in wait and perhaps when they arrive the stadium will be close to capacity.
Supporters voted with their feet on Tuesday night. Fewer than 48,000 turning up to see Slavia Prague, and yet to be fair it seemed like a strong turnout in the circumstances.
Tottenham were back to their dangerous and fluent best in their 3-1 victory over Slavia Prague
Son Heung-min made an emotional return to north London and addressed the crowd pre-match
Thomas Frank will be pleased that his Spurs side showed many tangible signs of progress
The Champions League home ties delivered little glamour for Spurs, where tickets are very expensive and an absence of jeopardy at this stage of the competition came together with a poor run of form to keep people away.
Not even Son’s first return since he left in the summer could lure them into the corporate palace built by Daniel Levy for a festive drink, but Frank’s team did what they had to do.
Nobody booed, another positive in these parts, and everyone swayed along to the sound of Barry Manilow as they filtered out in the damp of North London at the end of the night.
The opener came courtesy of an own goal, a bullet of a header by left back David Zima after Cristian Romero flicked on a corner, and the next two from penalties converted by Mohamed Kudus and Xavi Simons in front of the South Stand.
With maximum points from home ties against Villarreal, Copenhagen and now Slavia, Spurs have 11 points in total and a healthy goal difference. That was enough for a place in the knockout stage last season and probably will be again.
Two fixtures remain in January, at home to Borussia Dortmund and at Eintracht Frankfurt. Win them both and a place in the top eight is feasible.
But Micky van de Ven will miss the Dortmund game after a yellow card in a physical opening half against Slavia. ‘A minor negative,’ according to Frank. And Spurs know they have much room for improvement at this level.
The key to this was to enhance the warm glow of victory after beating Brentford on Saturday to end a patchy spell of Premier League form.
Tottenham were gifted the lead when David Zima bulleted a header into the back of his own net
Mohamed Kudus scored a penalty in what was the second goal of the evening for Spurs
On his quest for momentum and consistency, Frank resisted the temptation to over tinker and many only two changes, with Archie Gray starting again in midfield and Simons in his preferred number 10 role.
These had been successes from the Brentford win, when Simons made one and scored the other and the Netherlands international shone once again. Perhaps we are seeing him grow into the attacking star Spurs are craving to fill the void left by the departures of Son and Harry Kane.
‘Good link-ups, nice turns in middle where has acceleration to go past,’ said Frank, admiringly on Simons. ‘Also, I like his work ethic, it’s crucial that he works very hard.’
Slavia engaged man to man when Spurs had the ball. Stepan Chaloupek stepped out of the back four to nullify to Simons. There were times when the physical nature of the opening exchanges seemed to bump Kudus from his rhythm, but Simons seemed inspired by it.
Both, to their credit, continued to demand the ball and eventually Tottenham’s quality won through.
Micky van de Ven protested his innocence but will miss the Dortmund game after being booked
Xavi Simons added Spurs’ third goal – also from the spot – with around 10 minutes left to play
Frank threw his full backs into advanced areas to disrupt Slavia’s plans, and Cristian Romero ran the out of defence and joined the front line in open play, which made for an open contest but left Spurs wide open on the transition.
Guglielmo Vicario was required to make a series saves. There were two from long range in the first half and Michael Sadilek squandered two terrific Slavia chances, first heading wide and shooting feebly at Vicario.
Even at 2-0 up, Spurs gave the Czechs encouragement, but these are the thrills they long for on European nights and eventually they saw their team overrun opponents who have not scored in five of their six Champions League ties.
By the time Simons knocked in the third from the spot, the flimsiness of the defending was just another of those things that didn’t seem to matter a great deal. Perhaps fortune is turning in Frank’s favour a little.