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When Southampton blocked Morgan Schneiderlin’s move to Tottenham this summer, the French midfielder threw a major tantrum, claiming his six-year relationship with the club had been ‘destroyed’.

Few questioned why a player should become quite so emotional about swapping the club who had finished eighth in last season’s Premier League for the one which finished sixth.

Just as few had questioned why manager Mauricio Pochettino made the same move.

It was generally accepted that Spurs had ‘ambition’, while Saints had none .

Yet Southampton will visit White Hart Lane on Sunday, second in the table and five points clear of Pochettino’s new side after six straight victories in League and Cup.

Ronald Koeman has successfully reintegrated Schndeiderlin and recruited excellently. Supporters were hardly pining for Rickie Lambert when Graziano Pelle, from Koeman’s former club Feyenoord, netted a gorgeous winner against QPR.

Dusan Tadic, Sadio Mane and Fraser Forster did not come cheap but Saints still registered a healthy profit after receiving well over the odds for Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana and Dejan Lovren plus £16million for the inexperienced Calum Chambers.

Ryan Bertrand and Belgian international Toby Alderweireld were cute loan signings, while Shane Long is a fine back-up striker.

READ MORE: Mike Walters on how Southampton have got over their summer exodus

All in all a decent summer for the Saints, when most of us foresaw potential meltdown.

They will not finish in the Champions League places because that’s not how modern football works – the status quo is preserved by UEFA TV money and Finanial Fair Play regulations which dissuade a club like Southampton from making enough investment to finish above Liverpool or Manchester United.

But Koeman might just pull of the minor miracle of surpassing Pochettino’s Southampton achievements.

(Image: Julian Finney)

And do Spurs really stand a better chance of reaching the promised land? Has Pochettino really made anything better than a sideways move?

He now has a higher salary, offset by higher supporter expectations, and a lower chance of the relative success needed to further enhance his reputation.

Spurs were excellent at Arsenal on Saturday. Excellent for a club with limited ambitions, on and off the field.

Arsene Wenger reeked of sour grapes when noting that he could never previously remember Arsenal having 70 per cent of possession against Tottenham – but it was a fair point.

Pochettino, a gifted tactician, sent out his side to defend in numbers and nick a goal on the break. For 75 minutes the plan worked wonderfully and, even after Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s equaliser, they left with a satisfying point.

The Argentine did what he had to do. He knew his team had stunk the place out in a home defeat by West Brom the previous weekend and he knew goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was the only Spurs player who would get into the Arsenal team.

During Harry Redknapp’s reign, it was often mentioned that Tottenham would have provided the majority of a combined fantasy North London eleven – not that Spurs ever finished above their bitter rivals.

A cursory glance at Tottenham’s current squad shows the club have gone significantly backwards since.

In pictures: Spurs and Arsenal share the points in the north London derby

So why did Pochettino view Spurs as a step up from Southampton?

It certainly wasn’t job security, as Spurs chairman Daniel Levy had sacked three managers in two years.

It certainly wasn’t Tottenham’s infrastructure, as they face the always-painful process of moving to a new stadium, which Southampton went through a generation earlier.

It shouldn’t have been the club’s recruitment system – just compare the way Southampton dealt with the loss of five key players to Tottenham blowing their Gareth Bale money a year earlier.

And it couldn’t have been the academy – for where are the recent Spurs graduates to compare with Southampton’s Bale, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott, Shaw, Lallana and Chambers?

Pochettino did blood one Spurs youth product on Saturday, handing Ryan Mason a full Premier League debut.

The inexperienced kid did well against England’s Jack Wilshere. One for the future, surely? Except that the 23-year-old Mason is six months older than Wilshere.

So who knows, maybe Ossie Ardiles had leant his fellow Argentine an old Chas ‘n’ Dave cup final record.

Maybe Pochettino had watched a Pathe newsreel of Tottenham winning the title.

Or maybe he simply didn’t think this one through.

READ MORE: 5 things we learned from Arsenal 1-1 Spurs