In many respects Saints have their first benchmark of the season on Sunday at White Hart Lane when they face ex Saints boss Mauricio Pochettino.

Sitting 2nd in the Premier League has surprised those who thought that Saints were heading into meltdown in the summer, however the benchmark that many will judge the season on will be how well we do against Tottenham Hotspur and ex Saints boss Mauricio Pochettino.

The first judgement of that will come on Sunday when we head to North London, beating Spurs will be sweet and will see us go 8 points clear of the North London Soccer Chickens.

Of course the season is a marathon not a sprint and a good result at WHL is only the first battle of a long season, in the bigger picture it will be difficult to finish ahead of Spurs given their much bigger clot in the financial stakes, however winning the little battles is a start and for most Saints fans finishing above Spurs would be seen as a big step forward and confirmation that the club is still moving forward.

Photo: Action Images

WestSussexSaint added 13:05 - Sep 30 Spurs have a Europa league match at home on Thursday against Besiktas who I think will give the spuds a decent challenge so MP cannot afford to put out a weak side (even if he doesnt rate the competition). 2-1 Saints win - you heard it here first!
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08111952 added 13:26 - Sep 30 "... it will be difficult to finish ahead of Spurs given their much bigger clot in the financial stakes..." I dare you to name the clot. Regards, Dan Howard
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codge added 13:34 - Sep 30 It doesn't matter if you have a bigger clot? It is what is on the pitch and team spirit that will count in the end, and we have both, agree 2- 1 Saints.
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slynch added 13:36 - Sep 30 How do you know it'll be MP that will be the manager? - I mean to say, he's been there ages, now?!
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BoondockSaint added 13:40 - Sep 30 Let's not invest too much emotion in this. Yes beating MoPo would be lovely as would have beating Scousehampton in the first game. But if we lose, let's just look at it as 3 points dropped, not the end of the season, and look to continuing our winning ways the next week. As Nick says, it's a marathon, not a sprint. Having said that, I think we have a very good shot at winning this, if only because of our manager-Koeman vs MoPo is like Bobby Fischer vs .................me.

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SaintMalta added 14:01 - Sep 30 With MoPo's high pressing game, I think it will play straight in to the hands of Mane and Tadic. They will love running into the gap at the back! I'd go 2-0 Saints. When we signed Koeman, I said that I thought MoPo had done us a favour by leaving and I think Sunday will prove it!
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truthfulsaint added 14:22 - Sep 30 We can fight them in the transfer market by not selling them Rodders. We could even string them along and cancel at the last minute leaving them short of a striker. And as they've tried to unsettle him and then get him on the cheap. I say string them along.
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Consigliere added 15:15 - Sep 30 It seems to me that the key to this game is going to be the management of it. The first half we can expect to see the high pressing style favoured by MoPo, and our lads are going to have to soak it up (and the supporters hold their patience). Come half time however I would expect Ronko to have assessed the pattern of play and to make some tactical changes, and here we should see the difference in management style - Plan B and Plan C facing MoPo's stubborn refusal to change from Plan A. Then it should all come together for a result for us. Simples!

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slynch added 15:37 - Sep 30 I haven't seen Spurs playing the "Pochettino" style, I think the players do what they want to and he hasn't the power there to make them do anything else; I think the same has happened at Man U (last season esp) and Liverpool. Player power has become too great at some clubs, England included, and team performances suffer as a result no matter how great the individuals. Saints are reaping the benefit of that at the moment and so too Chelsea. If I'm right the top for will be Chelsea, Saints, Man C and Arsenal(?). This season is interesting!

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SanMarco added 15:44 - Sep 30 Is MoPo actually playing a high pressing game with Spuds? There is no reason why we can't do well in this game. Let's all support the team and not be distracted by nonsense directed at MoPo (until the final whistle on our victory of course!) I bet you would beat Fischer at football management Boondock - come to think of it you'd probably give him a decent game of chess nowadays...

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BaselSaint added 15:55 - Sep 30 Its gonna get ugly when we will - their fans are nasty little sh*ts even when they're happy! It will take me 3 to 4 days to stop laughing. Can`t wait.
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BoondockSaint added 16:22 - Sep 30 Slynch-you're absolutely right about player power. Look at Chelski only Jose can rein in Lampard and Terry. Rodgers is finding out he won't have any say until Gerard retires. Spurs are similar: no matter how good the manager is, they only play if they feel like it.Luckily our bunch seem to take their attitude from Fonte -(why was Lallana captain in the first place? Did he whinge for it?) SanMarco-I'd probably lose by running out of time on the clock trying to make up my mind on my first move!

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schatfield added 16:23 - Sep 30 I think spurs have struggled with MoPos style so far, just like it took us time to adapt to (not surprising given the training and energy it takes to adopt), so playing them now is good timing. They will push hard at first, but tire quick, so will need to be strong defensively from the push. Get through that, and we have a decent chance of getting a point/all 3 from the game

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A1079 added 16:27 - Sep 30 I don't care who the manager of Spurs is, I just want to beat them for a change. It seems an age since we came out on top result wise.
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Consigliere added 17:23 - Sep 30 Slightly off thread but I see that Bertrand is moaning about Chelsea's lack of honesty towards him - sounds like a pitch to stay here, which is good because that's what we want too. So, score a couple on Saturday for us Mr Bertrand and your case for staying put becomes increasingly irresistible!
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ChristchurchSaint added 20:16 - Sep 30 I think in some ways we have a distinct advantage. Our new players did not play for Judas, so it doesn't matter to them who Spurs' manager is! Judas has much more to lose from this- including one of his two faces! Also the players that did play for him (Nat, Jose, Morgan, Jack, Vic) can just show him how much better players that they are now without him. I feel that the pressure is far more on him than it is on us.

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