Realistic Goals for Tottenham Hotspur in 2015/16

Tottenham Hotspur are aiming for a return to the UEFA Champions League this season.

That is their ultimate goal, as it has been in every year since their impressive debut campaign in 2010-11.

The difficulty facing Spurs is that there are a number of strong candidates. Five, as it goes, are realistically better prepared for the challenge.

• Chelsea are untouchable. As England's best team, there is no chance that they will fail to finish among the top four.
• Manchester United have weaknesses but have spent heavily to increase the strength of the squad that achieved Champions League qualification last season.
• Manchester City and Arsenal are experienced hands and will prove hard to beat.

That fills four places before even taking Liverpool into consideration.

Anfield has seen significant investment this summer while losing only one first-team player in Raheem Sterling.

There are five sides stronger than Spurs on paper. That is inescapable.

Heavy player turnover could cloud the campaigns of United and Liverpool. Chelsea could be hit by complacency and Arsenal and City's weaknesses could come to the fore. It is likelier, though, that four of these five will pip Spurs to the top places in the Premier League.

Tottenham are entering their second season under manager Mauricio Pochettino after a mixed debut season that promised greater successes in coming years.

A young side based around the talents of Nabil Bentaleb, Christian Eriksen, Eric Dier and the irrepressible Harry Kane is certain to develop under the development-focused coaching of Pochettino.

A summer of shrewd transfers has added depth in defence and removed detritus from the midfield.

The team is stronger, but its best days are likely far ahead.

The coming season should see Spurs benefit from the development of their young players and the cohesion that only playing time can bring. They should continue to improve and beat more of both the good and bad sides in England.

Should they do so, they will be close to Champions League qualification. After all, they finished just six points shy of Manchester United last season.

Pochettino's focus, and Spurs' most realistic goals, should not be framed by European qualification but by less tangent improvements in performance.

Last season, they produced some of the best football seen at White Hart Lane in years, but those performances—chiefly against Arsenal and Chelsea—were altogether too rare. In the coming campaign, the goal should be replicating those brilliant displays more often. 

If the performances reach that level on a consistent basis, the results will come.

Away from the Premier League, Spurs should focus on progress in the UEFA Europa League.

It is an eminently winnable competition for a squad of Tottenham's quality and provides the shortest route to Europe's top table.

Last season's exit at the hands of Fiorentina was a debacle.

Coming so close to the League Cup final defeat to Chelsea, Spurs' European failure came under little scrutiny, but it came after a pair of unacceptable performances and is the blackest mark on Pochettino's copybook so far.

Putting that record right should be a priority this season.

If Spurs can progress in Europe and continue to threaten in the domestic cups as they have, all while pushing their rivals for the top four, it must be considered as successful a season as the last one was.

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This is only the second season in Pochettino's five-year plan and comes after the first legitimate pre-season campaign.

Spurs will be better prepared, stronger and fitter coming into the new season, but they face an acid test on opening day. A trip to Old Trafford will test their mettle.

Spurs' primary goal must simply be improvement. Improving their league finish against last year's fifth-place ranking is unfortunately unlikely, but there is significant room for growth in performances.

This is the time for patience.

If Pochettino's players do improve, he will be well placed to take on his illustrious rivals for the top four.