Derek McInnes is confident Aberdeen can improve upon last year’s memorable campaign.
The Dons finished third in the Scottish Premiership and lifted the League Cup during their most successful season of the 21st century.
But the Reds manager believes he has assembled a squad capable of surpassing that achievement.
He said: “I really do believe we can improve on last year. I feel we have a better squad and we should be expecting more from ourselves.
“The cups will always give us an opportunity to lift silverware. We did that last year and we want to do it this year.
“We are in two cup competitions that we want to win. That will be difficult as there are other clubs who have the exact same outlook.
“But I do feel we should look forward to the season with a lot of confidence.”
The Dons endured a slow start to the league campaign but went into the international break in good shape having taken 10 points from a possible 12 to move up to fifth position.
McInnes added: “The league campaign has been a wee bit stop-start in terms of performances but there has been more consistency over the past five games.
“There were a couple of disappointing performances at the start of the campaign but the last five games have been much more consistent. We need to make sure we keep stretching that run and and continue to pick up points.
“After beating Dundee on Saturday, we are right in amongst it and we know we can push on if we keep this up.”