Ominous, brooding clouds were hanging over Tottenham Hotspur's Stadium earlier this year, with a miserable 2022/23 campaign failing to yield European qualification, leaving the outfit looking set for a future drenched in misery.

As a bitter by-product of Spurs' failures, talisman and star man Harry Kane pushed for a transfer to German champions Bayern Munich, completing a £100m move to Bavaria and leaving behind the club's record goalscorer and a "legend of the game", according to Statman Dave.

But with Ange Postecoglou's managerial appointment, Tottenham have been systematically revitalised and now look poised for an exciting challenge for top four, perhaps even in with an outside shot at the Premier League title.

Why are Tottenham playing so well this season?

Postecoglou's mounting revolution is soaked in a sort of intuitive understanding of the flow that the Australian manager strives to implement; like a river, he aims for a sense of constancy in the cascade – in Spurs' case, the attacking moves – but also a power in which opposition find wading upstream a taxing task indeed.

And this stream of freshly delivered philosophy is only going to strengthen and grow as the months rage on, with the players nurturing their understanding of collective and individual assignments in a squad steeped in fluidity and dynamism.

The newfound attacking impetus is evidenced through the recharged energy levels, with Tottenham currently taking more shots than any other side in the league (138); last season, they finished seventh in the shot-taking table (518).

To think that, already, 26% of last season's total have been taken before even a fifth of the season is promising indeed, illustrating the promising positions Postecoglou's side are drifting into with a regularity that only breeds offensive fruits.

It's not just the strength in attack that is reaping rewards for the club thus far, though, with the fluidity in transition and dynamism injected into the structural progressions proving invaluable.

James Maddison was signed from Leicester City for £40m and his all-conquering creativity in the centre has allowed the likes of Heung-min Son to wreak devastation in the final third, with the England international already chalking up two goals and four assists in the Premier League.

Kane might have departed but Son – the new club captain – has been reborn in a centre-forward role and has scored six times from his last four outings in the league, all serving as the focal frontman.

Frankly, the different components have dovetailed seamlessly under Postecoglou's sage stewardship, and now there is a crystallising possibility that the Lilywhites could be involved in a title race this term.

It's early days, of course, but based on the evidence so far, they have found the formula best served to fuel their squad's fire, and do not look out of place at all in this new, free-flowing system.

Succinctly, it's all going rather swimmingly. The likes of Maddison and Yves Bissouma are thriving, Son's prowess has been restored and a defence that leaked goals like a faulty tap last year has been fixed (albeit still needing further improvement).

However, there are still a few members of the squad who have not quite cemented an unwavering starting berth, and Dejan Kulusevski is one who will need to ramp up his game if he is to continue to earn his place despite already matching his Premier League goal tally from last season.

Is Dejan Kulusevski playing well?

Kulusevski was signed in the summer from Juventus on a reduced £25m transfer after joining on an 18-month loan in January 2022, and has now scored nine goals and supplied 16 assists from 65 appearances across all competitions.

He burst onto the scene with quite the impact, posting five goals and eight assists from just 14 starts in his first Premier League term, earning praise for his energy as a "non-stop machine" by one journalist.

However, last season the Swede saw his progress hampered by thigh problems that ruled him out for ten matches, and he consequently only scored twice in the Premier League all season – a tally that he has indeed already equalled this term – and had pundit Glenn Murray remarking that he was "blowing hot and cold."

Indeed, the 23-year-old has netted in victories over Bournemouth and Sheffield United this term after starting all seven of the Lilywhites' top-flight encounters, but his overall displays have not been conducive to an unwavering position down the offensive right channel.

Against Liverpool, Spurs secured victory to rise to second in the table but only clinched three points against the resolute Reds after Joel Matip's attempted clearance rifled into Alisson's net in the dying embers.

A win's a win and it was a most emphatic one at that, but as The Evening Standard's Dan Kilpatrick wrote in his post-match ratings, handing Kulusevski a 6/10: 'Saw plenty of the ball and gave Robertson a tough evening but was too predictable at times and could not turn possession into many chances.'

Having spent over a quarter of the match with a two-man advantage, he surely should have done more with his 68 touches, making five key passes but only chalking up 0.15 in xA (expected assists), also taking just two blocked shots.

While he has not been poor at all, Kulusevski is yet to be benched this term and has probably not produced the level of importance to put him on the same pedestal as the likes of Son and Maddison, and with a long season still ahead, it might be wise to hand Manor Solomon a shot at impressing in his less-used position on the right wing.

Should Tottenham start Manor Solomon?

Solomon is primarily a left-winger but he has been deployed on the right sporadically this term, and Postecoglou might be inclined to shuffle the pack somewhat and provide the Israel international with a starting berth in Kulusevski's stead on the right flank against Luton Town next Saturday, in a match that Spurs will be confident of winning.

Solomon was signed on a free transfer after leaving Shakhtar Donetsk in the summer after impressing on loan with Fulham last season, scoring in four successive Premier League matches in February and March and being lauded for his “stunning” efforts by journalist Josh Bunting.

This season, the versatile winger has only started twice in the Premier League but earned two assists on his first start in a 5-2 dismantling of Burnley.

Described as a "pocket rocket" by pundit Jamie Redknapp last season, the 37-cap international ranks among the top 2% of attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for pass completion, the top 5% for goals scored, the top 2% for successful take-ons and tackles and the top 6% for interceptions per 90, as per FBref.

This level of tenacity and enthusiasm is exactly what Spurs need in their pursuit of silver-laden success this season, and while Kulusevski is a "great talent", as was said by his former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, Solomon must be utilised too to provide Postecoglou's burgeoning outfit with another reliable dimension.

The £60k-per-week star was impressive in his cameo against Liverpool and fashioned three key passes in just over 21 minutes, taking 31 touches and losing possession only twice.

Crisp and composed, Solomon certainly offers something different, and he must now be unleashed from the start to continue his integration within this thriving Tottenham team.