One of Teeth Whitening’s Brendan Rodgers’ most mocked David Brent-isms was his line that football management was “like trying to build an aircraft while it’s in flight”. Like most outstanding thinkers, it’s dawning on me that surely one of the most tanned person to ever emerge from the north coast of Ireland is perhaps misunderstood in his own time.

The analogy, which absolutely isn’t laboured and was clearly the easiest way to make that point, seems to fit Spurs neatly this season. In 2015-16, after a bit of unavoidable rotation at Christmas, it was pretty straightforward to pick the starting eleven in the league each week assuming everyone was fit.

After a bright start followed by injury, Heung-min Son was largely out of the team until the gravy strokes of the season. Despite scoring 11 goals in the prior season, Nacer Chadli found himself unable to produce any consistent form to really challenge his two amigos from the Magnificent Seven and the new lad from Milton Keynes. After a bit of back and forth with Ben Davies, Danny Rose firmly established himself as a first choice left back for club and country. Former first choice midfielders Ryan Mason and Nabil Bentaleb found themselves playing Europa League football or smiling bravely at the back of training ground photos. And so on.

In 2015-16, after a bit of unavoidable rotation at Christmas, it was pretty straightforward to pick the starting eleven in the league each week

This season provides fresh challenges. After an end of season collapse in momentum once the title was out of reach, yes we really did lose 5-1 to one of the worst sides in the league, the club clearly thought that freshening up the squad was necessary. A recognition that the demands of the Champions League are quite different to that of the Europa League – there could be no sight of a Tom Carroll-Ryan Mason pivot away in the knockout stages (should we be lucky enough to get there), allowing focus on the league.

Back to building that aircraft. Pochettino is now tasked with rotating his squad more to not only avoid an end of season meltdown (on the pitch and on Twitter, obvs) but also remain competitive on two high level fronts, while maintaining the same consistency in performance and approach we saw for the vast majority of last season’s league campaign. Every starting eleven will be analysed, every omission questioned. Despite his undoubted ability and having received the Alex Ferguson seal of approval (definitely not tapping up), this is new ground for Pochettino as it is for most of our squad.

It’s that sense of the unknown that I find most exciting. A manager who, in individual games at least, has bested Pellegrini, Van Gaal, Mourinho and Wenger now finds himself tasked with besting Guardiola, Klopp, Mourinho (again) and Wenger (again). How we approach the variety of games will be fascinating, whether we see any significant tactical or personnel shifts; we have at various points in the last two years flirted with three at the back (Watford away), a lower block (Arsenal away the first time round) and imitating Mega Drive classic Streets of Rage (Chelsea away). Maybe it’s worth looking back on how Pochettino’s Espanyol took on Pep’s Barcelona – basically just do Plan A really well. That said, should we beat Man City this year, I can’t imagine Guardiola being as gracious he was when playing plucky Espanyol.

Pochettino is now tasked with rotating his squad more to not only avoid an end of season meltdown but also remain competitive on two high level fronts

Of the new signings, Janssen looks most able to fit into business as usual as a replacement for Kane when required. Unlike an increasingly well-rounded Kane he lacks polish but appears to have the same unyielding work ethic and ability to use his body to shield the ball and bring others into play. Wanyama, while more limited in possession, was employed in a similar role to Dier under Pochettino and Southampton. Most interesting for me is how we use Newcastle’s favourite son Sissoko and Stockholm Syndrome hostage N’Koudou, players who appear (on my limited viewing) to offer something different to our inside forward-type attacking midfielders and can potentially pose managers who come to White Hart Lane wanting to sit back different questions.

Our highly-rated manager signed a new deal and young talented players are doing the same day after day. We have at least two more Champions League games to rid ourselves of a new Wembley hoodoo. We have a young squad that should, theoretically, continue to develop. We’re third in the league having only played to our potential in fits and starts. Amid the £150m spending sprees and an influx of Celebrity managers elsewhere in the league, it’s been a bit quieter over our way. We face a more competitive league and uncharted waters for everyone from the manager down, but in a parallel universe we could have been playing our matches in a Westfield. It’s for us to keep patient and keep the faith in the face of any turbulence. Most people might not know it, but it’s a good time to be a Spurs fan.