Tottenham Hotspur may only be two points off reigning champions Manchester City in the current Premier League table, but there is still some significant building to do before they can challenge Pep Guardiola's juggernauts. Despite only arriving in north London this past summer, Ange Postecoglou has almost immediately been able to implement his attacking style of football which has seen excitement return to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
After drawing with Brentford on the opening weekend, Spurs are now on a four-game winning run with maximum points secured at home to Manchester United and Sheffield United, while hard-fought wins have also come away from the capital against Bournemouth and Burnley.
13 goals being scored, and only five being conceded in that time, have placed Spurs second with their goal difference superior to Arsenal and Liverpool who also have the same number of points. As a result, combined with the superb football they have already played this season, suggestions of a Premier League title charge have been mooted and they are not currently being played down by Postecoglou.
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"No, no, no, let them go, let them enjoy it," he said when asked if it was his job to manage expectations. "I've said this before, my role is not to burst peoples' bubbles. Let them get excited and ahead of themselves, that's the beauty of being a supporter.
"They go through enough pain, let them enjoy and if they think we're going to be world-beaters great, it's then up to us to match those expectations. Our supporters deserve to have some happiness and they can enjoy it anyway they want to."
And Postecoglou is right, what is the point in enjoying watching your football team play if you can't dream of winning things? For Tottenham it could be a long process to get there and that was most definitely highlighted by the Carabao Cup defeat at the hands of Fulham.
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Of the starters, only Richarlison and Micky van de Ven began the previous Premier League game before the trip to Craven Cottage, and the significant gap between the starting XI and fringe players was brutally exposed. Spurs ended up losing the game on penalties and with it arguably went Postecoglou's best chance of winning a trophy during his first season.
So, can Tottenham win the Premier League title?
To even get close to the level of Man City or Arsenal, with their summer transfers seeing their squad depth improve greatly, more quality additions are needed to give Postecoglou room to make changes. Until that happens, Spurs cannot adequately compete with the top teams both in England and Europe, while no football being played in the latter is a benefit this season, history dictates that there will be tough spells ahead that Spurs may struggle to get beyond.
If Postecoglou is backed and a number of other objectives are met, he may have already hinted at exactly how long it could take before he begins to believe he has built a squad where challenging for major silverware is an expectation, not a dream. "It depends on the development of the players within this context," he said in a press conference when asked about how many transfer windows he needs to fully be pleased with his squad.
"We’ve got a lot of young players. So if they develop really quickly, probably not too much. But I definitely think we need at least two more windows to get to a space where I think 'okay, we [are happy] as a squad'. Because don't forget, obviously, this year, we're out of the Carabao Cup now and we've got no European football. So the fixtures are a little bit kinder to us between now and Christmas, but that's not our aim, we want to have games, we want to be in Europe, we want to be in cup competitions.
"So we're going to need a stronger squad and I don't think we're anywhere near that point where we've got a robust enough squad at the moment. So I think it'll take at least a couple of windows, and then after that, it just depends on obviously the development of some of our players. If they develop quickly, then hopefully, it's just fine tuning in the next couple of windows, but it may mean you've still got significant work to do."
One campaign, similar to Arsenal's run for the title earlier this year, could see the narrative change, but it must also be remembered there are 31 games still to play and the next two are pretty grim reading for Spurs. First up is a trip to Arsenal for a North London Derby before Liverpool are welcomed to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium the following week.
Taking four points from those two fixtures could see optimism heighten over the potential of being in a title race, but equally it could serve as a firm reality check that Spurs are not currently close to the level of their rivals. A lot will become clear over the coming months, but there is one thing that is certainly for sure right now and that is, that under Postecoglou, Spurs are definitely on the right path.
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