Hoddle: No new faces (MarkThompson/Allsport)

And the Spurs boss - who currently has seven players struggling with injuries - admits he is unlikely to add to his squad at all this month.

Spurs have been linked with Michael Ricketts and Kevin Phillips and Hoddle has admitted interest in Rivaldo and Fernando Morientes, but the former England boss is likely to start the campaign with the veterans Les Ferdinand, Teddy Sheringham, the wantaway Sergei Rebrov and Norwegian Steffen Iversen as his forwards.

Hoddle has been offered Leeds United's Irish striker Robbie Keane provided he stumps up around £9million or sends midfielder Darren Anderton and a hefty cash adjustment to Elland Road in exchange.

And he monitored the club's long-term target Bobby Zamora as the young £4 million-rated striker failed to hit the target for Brighton at home to Coventry on Tuesday.

But so far, midfielders Jamie Redknapp from Liverpool and Milenko Acimovic from Red Star Belgrade are the only high-profile new signings - and they both completed their free transfer deals before the World Cup finals.

He admitted: `Although time is getting short before the transfer window closes it doesn't mean things can't change before or after that.'

But Hoddle believes that if Spurs get off to a good start, they can still have a successful season.

`At the moment it looks like we'll be going in with just about the same squad people saw in action against Lazio in our final pre-season friendly last Sunday but I'm still confident we can get a good start, which is vital.'

He said: `We had some disappointments last year there but it is a narrow line between clubs in the mid-table section.

`We would have finished two places higher but for one poor performance on the last day at Leicester.

`It annoyed me because in the previous game we'd played so well to beat Liverpool when they still had a chance of winning the title.

`But you adjust your sights with developments as the season goes on and if you can get a good start the next aim is to make yourself solid among the leading positions.

`I would be very confident of staying in the top six with a decent injury-free run, but it is much harder when you have an average of seven or eight players out every week as we did last season.''

Talented full-back Stephen Carr is back after missing all last season and the World Cup with knee trouble and that is a considerable boost, as is the full recovery of return of his Ireland pal and broken leg victim Gary Doherty as well as Norway's Steffen Iversen, now fully recovered from wrecking an ankle while playing for his country early last term.

But a realistic Hoddle added: `There is no point making big promises at this stage because teams like Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool are of course going to be very strong again. If I can see us making genuine progress every season then I'm happy enough.