There is just a quiet feeling that Saints might just be getting the better of the two managers.
When Mauricio Pochettino left Saints for Spurs the initial feeling amongst Saints supporters was one of doom and gloom, the Spurs support wasn't much happier, many being distinctly underwhelmed by the pedigree of the new Spurs boss when compared to what has gone before at White Hart Lane.
A few weeks on though and the mood is more upbeat at St Mary's, Saints upporters are feeling that in Ronald Koeman they might just have the perfect fit for the managers job, that seems to be the view of a number of Tottenham fans, several I have spoken to would have preferred to have had Koeman take over at WHL than Mauricio Pochettino.
I can see their point, in Koeman OK we dont have one of the top European managers in the calibre of say Pep Guardiola or Jose Mourinho, but he is in the next group behind, ie managers who have won titles in one of the better European leagues, some may say that the Eridivisie in Holland is not up there with Spain and Germany and they would be right, but its still a tough league to win and Koeman has won it three times with two clubs to add to domestic cups in both Spain and Portugal.
Koeman also has a reputation of not only bringing through the youth, but of dealing with big names, he can use a squad, something that Pochettino has shown no inclination to do in his two managerial appointments so far, preferring to stick with a core of 15 players with the rest having very little opportunity to play.
Compare that with Pochettino's record of relegation scraps in Spain with Espanyol as well as a tough half season with Saints and you can see why the Spurs fans might feel that Koeman might just have suited their club better than Pochettino.
One thing is for sure, in terms of things won as a manager, Ronald Koeman has the best track record of any Saints manager that has gone before him.
Undoubtably Pochettino is a great coach, he certainly got Saints playing football, but coaching players to play in a certain way and keep the ball is different from making snap decisions during games that can change matches, Glenn Hoddle had that knack during his time at Saints and seemingly Koeman also has over his career, Pochettino though has a rigid style that he cannot change, hence the fact that in his 1 1/2 seasons at Saints, not once did we win a game that we went behind in, as was shown in the Cardiff home defeat last year, when after going a goal down in one of their few attacks we could not change our style.
So there is a growing feeling of optimism amongst the Saints supporters, perhaps a little similar to a moth or so after Pochettino arrived at the club, a week before the sacking of Nigel Adkins there was around 95% support for the man who took Saints to two consecutive promotions, there was uproar when he was sacked, but within a month or so the feelings had changed, many felt that as good as Adkins had been, he had taken us as far as he could and that Pochettino could take a step further, now that feeling is returning, Pochettino might well have reached his limits, but Koeman has managed bigger clubs to success and would be looking at more than just keeping Saints in mid table, perhaps now our ambitions are actually higher, a year ago it was a top ten finish with talk of Champions league qualification, the reality is that qualification was no more than idle talk, Saints didnt have the foundation.
Now we have a little more foundation, our ambitions now would seem to be to try to improve on last seasons league position, but to also look to get into Europe through one of the cups, Koeman's ambitions are more than just staying in the division, they are to get Saints as a European household name, he knows that at club's like Feyenoord or PSV etc they know the worth of playing in Europe season in season out even if it isnt the Champions League, its about taking steps forward one foot at a time.
The more Spurs supporters I speak to, the more I feel that perhaps we have the better manager of the two.