Mauricio Pochettino has told German football weekly kicker that Tottenham Hotspur have to be creative if they are to beat big-spenders like Manchester United to a Champions League place.
Tottenham have twice finished in the top four in recent years, in 2009-10 and 2011-12, although they missed out on a place in the Champions League on the latter occasion due to sixth-placed Chelsea winning the trophy that season.
With Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool all currently ahead of them -- as well as surprise package Southampton -- the competition for Champions League qualification is as strong as ever, but Spurs remain serious contenders, trailing fourth-placed United by only three points with 12 games of the season remaining.
"We are well positioned," former Espanyol and Southampton boss Pochettino said. "We're delighted about that.
"[The Champions League] is our dream, for all of us at the club, and for me as a former player too, but we also have to see who we are up against. For instance, Manchester United -- [Louis] Van Gaal joins them in the summer and gets [Angel] Di Maria, [Radamel] Falcao, [Daley] Blind, Marcos Rojo."
Spurs saw star player Gareth Bale leave for Real Madrid in 2013 for a reported fee of 100 million euros, and used that money to bring in players including Roberto Soldado, Erik Lamela, Christian Eriksen and Paulinho.
"I don't say that we can't also invest, but we do so on a different level," Pochettino said. "We have a good and broad squad, otherwise we would not be competing for the Champions League places."
Despite using the proceeds from the Bale deal to increase the squad depth, Pochettino believes clubs like Spurs have to be creative if they are to compete, improving their coaching and, significantly, relying on youth talents.
"Where there is less money, you have to work more intelligently," the former Argentina international said. "We need to work better structurally, be creative, train better, work better as a team than the opponent. [We have to be better] in every aspect really -- physical, technical, tactical. Academy work.
"Academy work is part of my DNA, and the rest of my staff thinks the same. We all worked our way through the ranks and resulted from good academy work."
Pochettino, who successfully brought a number of young players through at Southampton, has also given Harry Kane and Ryan Mason a platform at Spurs this season, and Kane in particular has had a major impact.
"I am proud for the lads," he said. "They have deserved [to break into the first team] through good performances. We don't gift them anything and, as the coaching staff, we can only hand them the tools to refine their talent."