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Tottenham return to Premier League action on Monday night with a trip to Leicester facing them in their season-opener.
Ange Postecoglou’s first season in charge was full of highs and several lows, with Spurs eventually finishing fifth after their season tailed off following a positive start.
Ahead of the new campaign, Postecoglou said that he ‘usually wins things’ in his second season at clubs after establishing a foundation and a philosophy at whatever club he’s managed.
But what challenges do Spurs and Postecoglou face this time round? Could Europe be a distraction or help spread the minutes? And have they managed to wipe out the errors that so dearly cost them last season? Mail Sport’s MATT BARLOW answers the five big questions.
Tottenham’s Premier League campaign gets underway with a trip to Leicester on Monday
Has AngeBall been sussed?
It’s the biggest of the big questions. Did the blistering start to last season fade to a fizzle because the best teams figured out how to stop them?
Spurs won just four of their last 11 fixtures and those four wins came against the bottom four. Or was it down to other factors?
The ready excuses, including injuries to key players at key moments and international disruptions, are simply part of the Premier League landscape.
Every team must ride them out and there will be more of the same. Ange Postecoglou will not change.
His teams improve in the second season with a deeper understanding, stronger belief and, in theory, a greater depth of the type of players attuned to his style. We should hope he is right because it is great fun to watch.
Ange Postecoglou will stick to his guns and will not change the way his team will play football
Can Dominic Solanke fill the Harry Kane void?
At £65million it feels like a heavy price for someone who is not a regular international, and yet with his mobility and willingness to run behind feels like a much more natural fit for this Tottenham team than Ivan Toney.
Solanke matured into a fine Premier League striker at Bournemouth, proving he can lead the line against top-class central defenders and shoulder responsibility for scoring goals.
At 26, he is approaching his prime and has another chance to prove he can make the next step having engineered an exit from Chelsea as a teenager for a move to Liverpool which did not work out.
His development suffered during the contract stand-off at Stamford Bridge and cost him time but there is scope to improve and Postecoglou is craving a focal point up front. Richarlison has not nailed it down and opportunity knocks.
Questions over Dominic Solanke (left) can be the man to fill the void left by Harry Kane (right)
Can they stop leaking goals from set-pieces?
A favourite stick with which to beat Postecoglou and something he is trying to address even though he resists clamour to add a specialist set-piece expert to his staff.
Quite rightly, too. Set-pieces have been designed and practised intensively by top teams for decades, long before individuals started jumping from the shadows to stand sentry on the touchline whenever a corner was awarded.
There have been changes to the coaching staff at Spurs with Chris Davies leaving to manage Birmingham and replaced by Nick Montgomery and Sergio Raimundo.
Mile Jedinak and Ryan Mason will share responsibility for the set-pieces but the team remains low on aerial strength compared to Arsenal, who scored the most goals from set-pieces in last season’s Premier League.
Set-pieces proved to be Spurs’ weakness last season which saw rivals target them with them
Is the next generation ready to play a part?
The summer recruitment has revolved around teenagers with Archie Gray and Wilson Odobert arriving from Championship clubs along with Lucas Bergvall who signed in January from Djurgarden but remained in Sweden until the end of the season.
Exciting academy prospect Mikey Moore has signed his first professional deal at 17 and has flickered in pre-season friendlies.
All of which offers Spurs a youthful thread absent in recent years, but which amounts to nothing if Postecoglou does not trust them to contribute in some way, from the bench or in the cup competitions. No team gave fewer minutes to teenage players in last season’s Premier League than Tottenham.
Spurs have several exciting young prospects – including Mikey Moore – ready to breakthrough
Will Europe help or hinder?
Postecoglou bucked the trend last season when he claimed the lack of football was hurting Spurs. They played only 41 times in all with no European football and early exits from both domestic cups.
Antonio Conte would have adored the time for more analysis, preparation and long tactical exercises, but his successor reasoned that it made it harder to establish any rhythm or keep the fringe players ticking over and ready to step in when needed.
This season, they are back in the (freshly expanded) Europa League and expected to cope with the well-documented rigours of the Thursday-Sunday routine across at least eight ties, something which usually prompts the managers to grumble about travel schedules and tired players.
