Choose your Tottenham turning point. The training break in Marbella perhaps. The first win of the season against Coventry, the return of James Maddison, or a rare and emotional victory at Chelsea, only second time in 36 years.

Roberto De Zerbi, the man who has turned the tanker on the pitch, goes instinctively to a heated team meeting before the Manchester United game. It lasted for three hours, from 8pm to 11pm in the team hotel in Manchester city centre.

De Zerbi detected more fire and passion in the meeting room that day and realised change was in the air. He enjoyed hearing home truths exchanged among teammates and between them and his staff members.

'In normal meetings you speak about tactics and mentality,' said De Zerbi. 'In that meeting there was something different. If you are honest in the meeting and you remove the mask and explain your weaknesses a teammate can help you in a difficult moment.

'I believe in people, in relationships, in connections. I don't believe in robots. I don't believe you can come here, put on the shirt and go on the pitch. I believe in the right atmosphere. I love it when I see my players come together to help each other, coming to the stadium even when not selected in the squad. It's crucial.

'Sometimes you can fight but fight for the good of the club not for yourself. Not egoist players but he team, before everything.'

Manchester United was the first fixture after the last international break. Spurs were bottom of the Premier League.

They played well at Old Trafford without capitalising, then went behind and had Rodrigo Bentancur sent off for butting Luke Shaw before summoning a fight back, with Dominic Solanke heading in a late equaliser from a cross by Sandro Tonali, the £100million midfielder who finished the game playing at left back.

It provided a spark. Spurs won the next three.

Red mist and serendipity

The impact of Bentancur's ban was amplified by Lucas Bergvall's knee injury in the same game. Neither have played since, although Bentancur is available again at Leeds, and De Zerbi reflects positively on the Uruguayan's rush of blood.

'Very important,' said the Spurs boss. 'I don't know if without that red card the reaction would have been like this, but the reaction was good because sometimes we are afraid to show more passion.

'I like people to say Tottenham played well but I want people to say Tottenham played with passion. That they were strong and helped each other on the pitch. That they had hot blood inside. That they played for the club and the fans. My dream is to hear people talk like this.'

Without Bentancur and Bergvall, De Zerbi flexed into a 352 formation against Coventry. Maddison started his first game for nearly 18 months and Spurs won for the first time this season, then disappeared on secretive training break for four nights in Marbella.

They were back in a familiar 4231 shape against Chelsea with Mateus Fernandes starting for the first time since he had been hooked at half time against Aston Villa and criticised by De Zerbi.

Fernandes was the best player on the pitch and clicked with Tonali and the pair excelled again against Crystal Palace.

For all the best laid plans, some good things can happen by chance.

Patience with new signings

Back in August, in the aftermath of a 2-0 defeat by Newcastle in the first home game of this season, Tonali stood near the dressing rooms in conversation with club owners Vivienne Lewis and her son-in-law Nick Beucher.

Tonali was disconsolate. The new Spurs regime had invested a club record fee to sign him at the behest of De Zerbi but he was sluggish, miles from his best and had just been given the runaround by Nico Gonzalez, the player bought to replace him for half the price.

His body language was apologetic, and the owners appeared keen to offer some words of encouragement as they bid farewells and took a lift to the corporate suites in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Two months on, the Italian has hit his stride. He has been dominant in the last two games. Sharper in mind, more decisive and quicker across the ground. Reading play, breaking things down, covering the miles. He looks like an elite midfielder.

'To play well, Tonali has to run and to work on the pitch,' said De Zerbi before hinting at more to come from Fernandes. 'Mateus is showing 50-60 per cent of his potential,' said the Spurs boss.

Injured players return

For all the rhetoric about unity, the return of Maddison has reset the creativity levels. His presence lifted the crowd and had a similar effect on his teammates. Possession is more secure. His quality on the ball gives others time to organise and with him Spurs look a lot more like scoring a goal. Passes fizz around at a brisker tempo and he carries threat from around the fringes of the penalty box. The goal he swept into the top corner to open the scoring against Coventry was exquisite.

Mo Kudus is back and Dejan Kulusevski's return after so long lifted morale. Less obvious is the return of Dominic Solanke, a genuine centre forward who can operate with his back to goal and bring others into play. Solanke has helped the team gel even if his goal return remains disappointing and De Zerbi admits he and Omar Marmoush are suffering low confidence.

And an emerging star...

After being criticised for ignoring the club's academy talent, De Zerbi has tried to integrate Luca Williams-Barnett. He cannot talk about togetherness if he refuses to engage with one significant arm of the club. Williams-Barnett made his Premier League debut as a sub against Palace. De Zerbi claimed he thought about starting him at Chelsea and urged the 18-year-old attacking midfielder to learn from those around him.

'The young player has to remove all social media and stay focused on improvement,' said De Zerbi. 'They have to follow the older teammates with more experience and work hard. Expectation and hype is normal. He can become a top player and has to get used to strong pressure and high expectation.'

Win at Leeds on Saturday and Spurs will go into another international break in touch with the top five. It has been quite a turnaround and chief executive Vinai Venkatesham popped up on a podcast this week talking about ambitions to win the Premier League title.

'Great to hear,' said De Zerbi. 'The first thing for people in this club is to be ambitious but to be ambitious you have to show the right mentality every day, game by game because words are not enough.

'What Vinai, the Lewis family and Johan Lange are doing is something special. In the last two seasons you can see they are changing a lot of things in this club. For me as coach, my staff and the players, we have to show we have the self to stay in this club.

'With the right behaviour, the right mentality, to be angry every day and to make a result. This is the best thing to do from our side.'