EVEN a snowfall heavy enough to cancel training was never going to knock Niko Kranjcar out of his poised stride.

As far as Spurs fans are concerned he has walked on water since moving from the south coast to north London at the start of the season.

By common consent, Kranjcar has been the star turn of Tottenham's renaissance under Harry Redknapp.

Breaking the Big Four cartel and achieving Champions League football is now not just a lofty ambition for the Londoners but a definite aim. Winning the FA Cup is a clear target.

And, according to Kranjcar, winning the Premier League title is no longer a pipedream but part of the plan.

He said: "We might have the best squad in the league. Certainly we have a better squad than Liverpool.

"If you look through the 20 or so first-team squad players we currently have, we are very strong.

"I felt that when I came here and I stand by that."

He hoped to prove their title credentials today against Liverpool at Anfield, but the big freeze has put paid to that.

There is no doubt, though, that Redknapp has revolutionized Spurs over the past year.

They are close to having that ideal balance of two top quality stars for each position, able to play in a variety of formations.

So if it is close to being the best squad, why should winning the league be out of the question?

After they beat West Ham on December 28, Hammers boss Gianfranco Zola suggested Tottenham were in with a shout of Premier League success THIS season.

Croatia international Kranjcar, who speaks in a thoughtful, soft American accent, having been tutored in an international school when his family lived in Austria, smiled.

"It's hard for us to talk about winning the league," he said.

"None of us dare say that right now. Does the best squad always win the championship? Not always.

"Maybe it's a bit too bold for me to say we are the best squad in the league. But I really do believe in the quality we have here right through the squad.

"Just now our main aim is to achieve the top four and qualify for the Champions League. That in itself would be a magnificent achievement.

"We are not thinking about the title right now. We can't.

"Eight points is a very big gap, especially for a team that hasn't been there before.

"But if we take each game as it comes, go on a good run and come the end of February or March we are near the top spot, who knows?

"After all, this has been such an unpredictable season.

"Look at Arsenal. Arsene Wenger was right to say it was crazy to write them off a couple of months ago. Look where they are now.

"We believe we are ready to take on the big sides, but obviously it hasn't happened yet.

"We played well against both Arsenal and Chelsea away but still lost.

"The experience of how to come through and win those games is lacking at the moment.

"But eventually over the coming seasons to make the top has to be the aim.

"No one here is hiding away from that task and responsibility. We really SHOULD be in that top four."

On the pitch there is an effortless poise about Kranjcar but there is significant substance to his scheming style.

He grew up hardened by the bitterness and tragedy of the complex Croatian war of independence when the old Yugoslavia disintegrated 20 years ago.

As a young player he endured the pain of suddenly being cast as a hate figure by his beloved club Dinamo Zagreb.

Such experiences have helped shape Kranjcar.

Despite his brooding good looks and thoroughbred talent - his father Zlatko was a national hero as a player and also managed Croatia at the last World Cup - 25-year-old Kranjcar is no mere pretty-boy player.

Yes, he has a flamboyant touch and sometimes struts around on the pitch, but he also has hardened resolve.

After early success when he broke into the Zagreb side as a teenager, he defected in 2005 to bitter rivals Hadjuk Split.

It was the sort of move that turned Sol Campbell from hero to villain with Tottenham fans when he moved to Arsenal.

"It was the most difficult experience I had in my life," admitted Kranjcar.

"I was born in Zagreb. My dad was a club legend at Dinamo. I was the youngest captain ever. We won the cup and title in one year. It was all great.

"But the next year we had a lot of bad results. We were fourth or fifth in the league and the club just put me on the transfer list.

"They were starting to blame everything on me. I was only 19.

"They were also trying to pretend I was only playing for the national team because my dad was the coach.

"I had the choice of going to a club in Russia or to Hadjuk Split. I chose to go to Hadjuk Split.

"There was a lot of hate towards me when I went back to Zagreb.

"Even though people really knew it wasn't my decision to go, it was something I had to do to fulfil my career.

"At the Zagreb stadium they would boo me and throw flares but they didn't quite hang me."

A tough learning curve. Then again, Kranjcar had been brought up living in the shadow of fear when war in Croatia broke out in the early 1990s.

Consequences

"For people back home it was traumatic," said Kranjcar. "It still is.

"Many people still feel the consequences, mainly those who lost people. When the fighting started we were in Austria.

"My father, who was starting out in coaching having played for Rapid Vienna, decided we had to go back to Zagreb.

"It was a massive statement at the time. He was always a very proud Croatian and he taught us to love the country.

"And he had been the first captain of the national team when it played its first game in 1990.

"To be honest, in Zagreb we didn't feel the war too much. We had one or two bombings but you didn't really feel it on the skin.

"The worst parts were obviously on the borders.

"I am too young to talk about the war experience. But I have very strong feelings for my country, which it makes it even harder to bear that we won't be at the World Cup this summer."

After starring at the 2006 finals in Germany, Kranjcar moved to Portsmouth.

"Playing there really put me on the world stage," said Kranjcar. "Winning the FA Cup with them was so special.

"At Zagreb and Split we were expected to win things but nobody expected Portsmouth to win anything.

"It was an amazing place to play. Always a special atmosphere. Somehow the club must be saved."

But Tottenham offers a much bigger and more stable stage. And Kranjcar has revelled in it since his L2.5million transfer deadline deal.

"It has been a great move for me," he said. "I have been made aware of the style of football people like at Spurs and that suits me.

"Harry Redknapp is the perfect manager to promote that sort of football.

"Now that Luka Modric is fit I know the debate is whether we can both play in the same side.

"For me it is a conversation that doesn't need to happen because we have played more than 20 times together for the national side. We are similar in style but not the same."

Their first outing together for Spurs in last week's 4-0 FA Cup thrashing of Peterborough was impressive - as was how seriously Tottenham and their fans took the game.

Kranjcar's first goal, assisted by Modric, drew comparisons with how David Ginola often scored for Spurs by gliding in from the left and dispatching a right-foot thunderbolt into the top corner.

So how does he like being compared with Ginola?

"Great, that's nice to hear," smiled Kranjcar.

Then, assessing the bigger picture ahead, he became very serious again.

"We have our league targets, but yes, winning the FA Cup this season is a big aim. It has to be this season.

"And looking ahead, with the players we have got, with the money we have got, the projects of the new stadium and new training ground, we know can become a really big club."