A year ago Saints took on Groningen in Holland and won comfortably, but that result should not be the yardstick for this years encounter.

When Saints took on Groningen last summer the situation was far different from this year, the club had a manager in place from the previous season who knew his squad and had honed his tactics and formation over the previous season.

He also did not have half of his first choice XI missing or not yet fit due to an International tournament.

Indeed in some respects the opposite in that Sants had started their preparations earlier last year due to the fact that at this stage they had to play competitive football in the Europa League.

That means the side that took on Groningen had had several weeks training and were now ready to start the Europa League campaign, in short they were two more weeks advanced in pre season schedules than the Saints squad are this time out.

The game last year was played on 18th July and Groningen themselves were at a less advanced stage of their training schedule than Saints.

That is why those Saints fans who will be looking at this game to draw comparisons as to how good or bad this seasons squad may compare will be getting false readings if they try to do so.

This season both teams are at a similar stage of training and that will mean Gronngen will be far more competitive than a year ago and to close the gap further Saints do not have the full squad up and ready to go as they also did last summer.

There is also the question of new signings, like last season Saints have a couple in place, but perhaps not all.

Finally there is the way this game will be viewed in the schedule, last season it was about honing the squad and getting it competitive ready to meet Vitesse, this it is about bringing back the Euro players and then bedding in a new formation and tactics, put simply we will not have the sense of urgency we did 12 months ago.

That means that drawing comparisons on tonight will not offer any accurate comparisons and indeed will only serve to stir up the more excitable element of Saints support who will see anything less than a repeat of last terms 3-0 win as a sign of doom and gloom.

Of course their will be some aspect of comparison we can use, should Saints repeat that result or better it, that would be very pleasing and could suggest that if the squad can do that again when they are not firing on all cylinders, then they have improved overall.

But that would be the exception rather than the rule and the fact is that there are too many differentials this season from last to take too many comparisons from the result.

So this game should be seen for what it is, that is another step forward and perhaps the first chance to actually see what Claude Puel has in mind for next season both tactically and in terms of player selection.

Photo: Action Images

BaselSaint added 08:19 - Jul 31 Good point Nick. You could see we were in a different state of preparedness compared with this time last year. At times, and with the individual qualities of some players it was encouraging. The opposition was way too aggressive in the tackle hence half the game was spent with 10 men on their side. Often though it looked like exactly what it was; players unfamiliar with each other and with a really unfamiliar formation. Hope it comes together.... very soon!

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