DICK ADVOCAAT admits that success for Sunderland this season will be to avoid another relegation battle after a summer transfer window which has left plenty of question marks hanging over his best team.

Advocaat will this morning put the finishing touches to preparations for Tottenham’s visit to the Stadium of Light tomorrow when the Black Cats squad head for training.

And he is weighing up the match fitness of both Fabio Borini and Ola Toivonen before deciding whether to hand the new recruits a first start since respective moves from Liverpool and Rennes.

Sunderland, who are without a win from their opening four Premier League games, have improved the squad significantly since the end of last season with nine new signings, excluding the permanent deal for Santiago Vergini.

But Advocaat will not be getting carried away after the changes and feels small steps are the order of the day as he looks to steer Sunderland off the foot of the table and clear of trouble.

“Let us put it this way,” said Advocaat. “I think we have to concentrate not on relegation. Anything which is better than last season is an improvement. Every step we are higher, is good for the club.

“It has nothing to do with my ambition. Let us make it quite clear. What we have done is improve the squad. That is the most important thing. Our first priority is to avoid relegation.

“What I have seen from other clubs and their spending, other clubs are better too. We are better but so are they. At certain moments, I believe we can play a little bit more attractive football than last season but still well organised. Knowing what other clubs have done, staying away from relegation is the most important thing.”

Despite being encouraged by the number of additions made, he still has reservations about making predictions because of the short-term doubts hanging over many of the players.

He said: “Am I satisfied? Not at the moment because some of the players who have come in have not played much football so are lacking match fitness. That is not just one. I think there are five or six and they need more match fitness. But at certain times, you have to start them otherwise it takes even longer before they get really fit.”

Advocaat has written off Steven Fletcher’s chances of being involved. He picked up a kick in training and had to sit out, so the boss decided to overlook him for a match-day 18 which he named yesterday.

He is now looking to narrow that pool of players down to a starting line-up, with Borini not certain to start following his £9.75m switch from Liverpool.

Advocaat said: “It could be that we change formation but Fabio Borini as well as Toivonen have not played much so it may be they are not quite ready to start. These are the things we have to think about.”

He added: “We need our time on the training ground, even after these last 14 days. We only had half the group then. What can you do? Today, the last two came back, one from United States and one from Uruguay.

“We need to get the right balance in the squad. That is the most important thing. We are still learning but we do have ideas what this squad can do but from our point of view, it is still difficult to say what is the best line up.”

One of the doubts about tomorrow’s line-up is whether Advocaat will name Lee Cattermole in his team. A change of system could lead to one less defensive central midfielder being fielded and Cattermole’s dip in form has brought uncertainty about the key man’s place.

“I see Lee just as all the other players, part of the squad,” said Advocaat, who is unable to field De Andre Yedlin against parent club Tottenham.

“The club made the decision to award him a new contract. He is from the region and did really well for me last season. When they asked me about him, I said if we can keep him, let’s do it but the final decision was that of the club.

“He has to find last season’s form but that is not just Cattermole but the majority of the team has to perform better and bring more. It is not only about Cattermole. You can only get that with games.”