Mauricio Pochettino insists that a top four finish remains a possibility for Tottenham this season, but admits Spurs must "improve a lot" to achieve that.
The Lilywhites currently sit 11th in the Premier League after 11 games, ahead of the visit of Sheffield United to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium tomorrow (Saturday).
The Blades currently sit sixth in the table, five places and three points ahead of Spurs, who are ten points off the top four - with Leicester City in third and Chelsea in fourth both on 23 points from 11 games - while north London rivals Arsenal are also four points ahead of Tottenham in fifth place.
However, Pochettino has refused to rule Spurs out of qualifying for the Champions League again via their league finish, with the Argentine calling for calm as Tottenham look to try and find the right balance to start climbing the table again.
“It’s our reality, I think when you assess all the circumstances I think it’s normal to be in the position we are,” he said.
“We are working, trying to perform better and get better results. We are on the way to finding the balance, the calmness and the right direction to find good balance in the squad, the right balance in the way to play to perform and go as far as we can.
“We’ll see [about top four]. Today, it’s so early. If we are capable of finding the right balance to start performing in the way we expect, of course it’s still possible. Of course it’s still possible.
“It’s still there, it’s still possible. We need time to get everything right because we went back to five years ago where we were in terms of position, situations and stuff like that, so it takes time.
“But we cannot move the club forward quick, to accelerate things, we can’t. We cannot accelerate the time, that’s the problem. The natural process, only we need to stay calm and work hard because there is not another way to change this dynamic. We cannot accelerate the time. The time is the time and the process is the process.”
But Pochettino insists that it is important to stay positive, with Spurs looking to try and build momentum after their 4-0 win in the Champions League against Red Star Belgrade in midweek.
That has given Spurs a boost going into the game against Chris Wilder’s Sheffield United side, and Pochettino hopes that can be a turning point, and a sign of things to come for the Lilywhites.
“It’s difficult to talk now because I don’t want to be talking about negative things, I want to be positive,” he said.
“I want to be positive because the signals in the last few weeks have been positive and, of course, I know to create a positive spirit and provide the good mood, it’s so important.
“Sometimes we talk a lot and it’s not helpful, but now there are a lot of positive things and we need to stick with that and keep going and moving because all the fans and the club deserve that we start winning again games and get into a better position. In the Champions League, we are in a very good position but in the table of the Premier League, we need to improve a lot.”
