There will come a point when Roberto De Zerbi's unwavering belief in his players turns to disbelief, and the consequences could be chaotic.

How frustrating it must be for the Spurs boss to time and again see his side come out with such pace and intensity and fail to capitalise.

The north Londoners have been better than their results suggest this season, but that is going to count for nothing if they don’t become more ruthless in the final third.

They flew out of the traps against United, seemingly desperate to put their winless start behind them, but saw chances for Dominic Solanke and Mohammed Kudus go begging in a first-half that the visitors dominated.

Having had three weeks to dwell on what has been their joint-worst start to a Premier League campaign, Spurs were electric as they pressed United into submission.

Michael Carrick’s side were anonymous. Loose in possession and overwhelmed by their rivals’ intensity. But they weathered the storm, in part due to Spurs’ wastefulness.

United were abysmal and offered no attacking threat whatsoever; it took until the 34th minute for them to have their first shot on target. De Zerbi, though, will have been just as frustrated as Carrick heading into the interval.

It looked like it might be a familiar story for Spurs when Bryan Mbeumo fired low past Antonin Kinsky with 17 minutes to play to hand United a scarcely deserved lead.

However, Solanke wrestled off Lisandro Martinez’s attention to head home a stoppage-time equaliser that lifts Spurs off the bottom of the Premier League table.

It was a precious goal, but it could have been so much more for the visitors, and they will be punished by better teams if they cannot take advantage of their fast starts.

After three weeks to reflect over the international break, Spurs now have another nine days before they play again.

They fly to Marbella for a few days of warm-weather training with the wind in their sails, and De Zerbi must harness the momentum of Solanke’s late equaliser.