London24 Tottenham Blogger Daniel Grigg questions whether Harry Redknapp’s side will be able to improve on, or even match, last season’s fifth-placed finish in the Premier League.

With Sergio Aguero moving to Manchester City and adding his name to the growing list of Spurs targets who have decided to go elsewhere, Tottenham have now spent the least of any of last season’s top six this summer.

Of course, it has been an even more depressing couple of months for the Lilywhites’ opening-day opponents, Everton, who have failed to make a single signing since securing seventh place in the last campaign.

The inconsistency and relative lack of funds available to 14 of the Premier League’s 20 clubs has taken some of the pressure off Harry Redknapp, who can and frequently has argued that most of the clubs above Spurs are regularly spending a lot more money on transfers and wages.

However, given the lack of transfer activity at White Hart Lane, sixth place is no longer the minimum expectation for next season – more and more, it is becoming Tottenham’s most likely finishing position.

That is largely because Liverpool have sought to push on from their disappointing campaign in 2010/11 - although they still only narrowly missed out on fifth place.

While Kenny Dalglish has certainly been active in the transfer market, he has also added a real buzz to the Reds since becoming the manager again.

Compared to the Merseysiders, Spurs feel so static, almost as though there has been no improvement at all in the last 10 months or so - which isn’t a good sign in a league where forward progression is needed just to hold station.

If managers have a shelf life at football clubs, it might be fair to say that Harry Redknapp is approaching his a little faster than “King Kenny” is at Liverpool.

After all, with his history at Anfield, Dalglish loves the club in a way that Redknapp simply cannot match at White Hart Lane.

If Spurs start selling players that the manager wants to keep, or fail to match his ambitions with spending power, will Redknapp’s eagerness for the job remain as strong as it has been during two seasons of upward mobility, progression and excitement?

Let us hope so. But, whatever happens, it currently looks like the Tottenham boss will have his work cut out in the coming campaign.

With few signings and probably a host of Europa League matches to distract attention away from the league, Redknapp will need to be performing at his managerial peak right from the start if Spurs are to even match what they achieved last season.