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Tottenham return to Premier League action on Monday evening with a trip to Leicester in their season opener.
Ange Postecoglou’s first season in charge was a rollercoaster ride, with Spurs finishing fifth after their season faltered following a positive start.
Ahead of the new campaign, Postecoglou said he “usually wins things” in his second season at clubs after establishing a foundation and philosophy at any club he has managed.
And with a raft of summer signings already on the doorstep at Hotspur Way, with the likes of Dominic Solanke arriving for £65m and Archie Gray for £30m, Postecoglou will be hoping to start this season as he did last.
But what challenges do Spurs and Postecoglou face this time around? Could Europe be a distraction or help spread the playing time? Have they managed to erase the mistakes that cost them so dearly last season? Mail Sport’s MATT BARLOW answers the five big questions.
Tottenham’s Premier League campaign begins with a trip to Leicester on Monday
Has AngeBall been detected?
It’s the biggest of the big questions. Did last season’s blistering start fade away because the best teams knew how to stop it?
Spurs have won just four of their last 11 games and those four wins have all been against the bottom four. Or was it down to other factors?
Easy excuses, including injuries to key players at key moments and international disruptions, are simply part of the Premier League landscape.
Every team has to endure and there will always be more of the same. Ange Postecoglou will not change.
His teams improve in season two thanks to a deeper understanding, a stronger belief, and, theoretically, a greater depth of the type of players that fit his style. We have to hope he’s right because it’s a lot of fun to watch.
Ange Postecoglou will stand firm and not change the way her team plays football.
Can Dominic Solanke fill Harry Kane’s void?
At £65m it seems a steep price for someone who is not a regular international player, and yet with his mobility and willingness to play at the back he seems to fit much more naturally into this Tottenham team than Ivan Toney.
Solanke developed into a superb Premier League striker at Bournemouth, proving he can lead the line against top centre-backs and shoulder the responsibility of scoring goals.
At 26, he is approaching his prime and has another chance to show he can take the next step after planning an exit from Chelsea as a teenager to move to Liverpool, something that did not work out.
His development was affected during the contract impasse at Stamford Bridge and cost him time, but there is room for improvement and Postecoglou craves a focal point in attack. Richarlison has failed to realise his target and opportunity knocks.
Doubts remain over whether Dominic Solanke (left) can be the man to fill the void left by Harry Kane (right)
Can they stop goals from being conceded from set pieces?
A favourite to beat Postecoglou and something he is trying to fix although he is resisting the clamour to add a set-piece specialist to his team.
And rightly so. Elite teams have been designing and intensively practising set-pieces for decades, long before players began to leap out of the shadows to stand sentry on the touchline whenever a corner was awarded.
There have been changes to the Spurs coaching staff with Chris Davies leaving to manage Birmingham and replaced by Nick Montgomery and Sergio Raimundo.
Mile Jedinak and Ryan Mason will share the responsibility for set-pieces, but the team is still short of aerial power 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, when their opponents attacked them.
Is the next generation ready to play a role?
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 contract at the age of 17 and has featured in pre-season friendlies.
All this offers Spurs a youthful thread that has been missing in recent years, but that is all for naught if Postecoglou does not trust them to contribute something, either from the bench or in cup competitions. No team gave fewer minutes to teenage players in last season’s Premier League than Tottenham.
The Spurs have several exciting young prospects, including Mikey Moore, ready to break through.
Will Europe help or hinder?
Postecoglou bucked the trend last season when he claimed a lack of football was hurting Spurs. In total, they played just 41 games, made no European appearances and were eliminated prematurely from both domestic cups.
Antonio Conte would have loved time for more analysis, preparation and lengthy tactical drills, but his successor reasoned that made it harder to establish a rhythm or keep substitute players functioning and ready to step in when needed.
This season, they are back in the (newly expanded) Europa League and are expected to face the well-documented rigours of the Thursday-Sunday grind in at least eight games, something that usually results in managers complaining about travel schedules and tired players.
