In the dying embers of October 2012, Southampton were 19th in the table on their return to the Premier League. Not only had they lost seven of their first nine games, but they also had the worst defensive record in the league.
12 months later, they look like a completely different club. Flying high in fifth place, they have the meanest defence in the Premier League this season, conceding just three times and drawing away at Manchester United along the way.
Naturally, manager Mauricio Pochettino has received many of the plaudits for the turnaround on the south coast of England.
His appointment in January came as something of a surprise, given the fact that predecessor Nigel Adkins had been starting to turn things around at St Mary's.
Pochettino had just left Spanish side Espanyol as they lay rooted to the bottom of the La Liga table. Added to the fact that the Argentine needs an interpreter to conduct post-match interviews, his elevation to the Southampton hotseat came from left-field to say the least.
His English might be better than we all think though according to South American football expert Tim Vickery who spoke to Off The Ball last night about the potential secrets behind Pochettino's success.
"I have an impression that Pochettino has far better English than he lets on," said Vickery. "I think he's using this period to preserve an aura of mystique. But the thing you would say about him is that he is yet one more ripple of the stone thrown into the water by [former Athletic Bilbao manager] Marcelo Bielsa. Bielsa is a coach who has launched a thousand coaching careers, including Gerardo Martino who is at Barcelona at the moment. Like Martino, Pochettino was one of Bielsa's players at Newell's Old Boys. He was also a Bielsa player with the Argentine national team."
20 months since Bielsa's Bilbao pressed Alex Ferguson's Man United into submission, his disciple Pochettino did the same to Moyes ten days ago
Indeed many of the hallmarks that characterize Bielsa's philosophy are also visible in Pochettino's Southampton, namely playing a high line and intense pressing of the opposition. But one needs to be strong minded to convince players of its merits as it takes supreme fitness and dedication to pull off consistently.
"From the first few weeks it was clear that he had convinced the players of what they were doing. Because this is a way of playing that leaves you in trouble if you do it halfway. If that pressing is not done by every player, then you have serious problems because it leaves so much space behind that high line," Vickery explained.
But it is the Saints' defensive record that has raised the Rio-based journalist's eyebrows, given that the Bielsa-style philosophy is offensively oriented.
"The surprise has been how successful he has been defensively because it is a criticism you could make of Bielsa's teams who leave themselves exposed to the opposing counter-attack. But one thing we have to factor in is that as a player, Pochettino was far, far better than Bielsa who was also a defender. Pochettino was a high class defender with extensive European experience and played for Argentina in World Cups. That might be the secret of his success at getting Southampton to defend well. But their attacking play is pure Marcelo Bielsa," said Vickery.
