Tottenham began the season with a deflating 1-0 home defeat to Everton, as Jose Mourinho was beaten by his old friend and adversary Carlo Ancelotti.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin's thumping header from Lucas Digne's free-kick on 55 minutes condemned Mourinho to his first opening-day defeat in the Premier League and the hosts to their first loss to Everton in almost eight years on a frustrating afternoon for the Spurs manager.
Glorious sunshine in north London only added to the sense of new-season optimism for both these clubs before kick-off. For Spurs, this almost felt like the true start of Mourinho's tenure after all the difficulties and disruptions of his first season.
Certainly, the Spurs manager has longed for a clean slate and a fresh start, and believes it is only fair to judge him on this season.
By the final whistle, however, which Mourinho greeted by storming across the pitch and down the tunnel alone, much of that optimism had already ebbed away after a laboured performance in the first of a possible nine games in 21 days – a schedule declared "inhuman" by the Portuguese.
Tottenham's performance only served to highlight many of the existing concerns about Mourinho's football, as they struggled to find a way through Everton's four-man defence.
They lacked spark and invention in the final third, only truly looking comfortable on the counter-attack, while their defence, which was supposed to have improved with the introductions of debutants No.5 Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and new right-back Matt Doherty, still looked porous.
Afterwards, Mourinho would still have found a reason to feel aggrieved, with Spurs unhappy that Digne's free-kick for Calvert-Lewin's winner was both soft and taken several yards further forward than the infringement.
But ultimately the hosts did not do nearly enough, with Jordan Pickford forced into just one save from Lucas Moura's tame header after Everton had taken the lead.
The Toffees, meanwhile, look to have solved their biggest weakness from last season after completely revamping their midfield during the transfer window.
New signings Allan, Abdoulaye Doucoure and James Rodriguez all started, with the latter stealing the show on a sparkling Premier League debut.
Far from taking time to settle in English football, within minutes Everton were channelling everything through the Colombian, who was playing on the right of a front three and repeatedly found the time to execute smooth switches of play.
Everton's best chance of the first half was of Tottenham's own making, though, but Richarlison spectacularly missed an open goal after latching onto Ben Davies' loose pass and skipping away from Toby Alderweireld and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
James' influence further highlighted Tottenham's own lack of creativity in the absence of Giovani Lo Celso, missing with a hamstring strain, and Tanguy Ndombele, who began the new season in a familiar position on the bench.
There was a strained, heavy feel to Spurs' play and only Heung-min Son was providing a spark on the occasions he could escape the attentions of Seamus Coleman.
The counter-attack was proving far more profitable, and Spurs' nearly broke the deadlock with a menacing break against the run of play just after the half-hour.
Son ignored Harry Kane's run – irritating the England captain – and instead released Dele, who extended Pickford into a flying save.
The England goalkeeper has started the new season well after two clean sheets in the last international break and he denied Spurs again before the interval, preventing Doherty from scoring a debut goal with his studs after Kane's sublime scoop released the full-back.
They were to prove Spurs' best chances of the match, as Everton emerged far the livelier from the interval, where Mourinho had introduced Moussa Sissoko for Dele and switched to a 4-3-3 system.
Richarlison, who had an afternoon to forget in front of goal, should have broken the deadlock at the back post from James' cross before Calvert-Lewin got between Eric Dier and Alderweireld to wonderfully head home.
Far from the goal sparking Spurs into life, it was Everton who looked the most likely to score again in the final half-an-hour, with Richarlison twice threatening to curl into the far corner after cutting inside from the left flank.
Spurs' frustration showed with a number of fouls, the worst of which was when Hojbjerg clattered Richarlison and was lucky to escape with a booking.
Mourinho introduced Steven Bergwijn and, finally, Ndombele in the hope of providing a spark but Everton never looked especially uncomfortable, and it was the Toffees who appeared the more streetsmart of the two teams in the final stages.
It was Ancelotti, too, who looked like the manager with renewed vigour, while Mourinho's team appeared to be suffering from many of the failings that have characterised his struggles in recent years.
It is still early days and there is more than enough time – and matches – for Spurs to improve. For now, though, this felt like the bursting of a bubble of optimism.
