Saints take on West Ham in a game that will show what the season may hold. 

As I have been saying for the past few weeks, the bout of friendlies against lower league opposition have been more about getting fitness and games under the belt for the squad, however that all ends tonight as Saints face Premiership opposition in two home friendlies that will show just how well the Dutch revolution is working.

Obviously these games are against better teams so in truth you should expect saints to be beaten, what we saints fans should be looking at is the manner in which we play, do the players seem to understand the system.

Perhaps the problem areas are the central striking position and the two full backs, I feel that we have adequate cover in other areas, but especially at the back we dont.

Some would say that even with just over a wekk left to the big kick off the squad will undergo radical change in between now and then and that could be the case, however Jan poortvliet can only put out what he has.

What saints fans should look for is that the team can play the system, that they look fit and that they have a spirit about them, if that is the case then we are on the right track, one only has to look at last year when we were slaughtered by lazio, then we saw a team in total disaray and that didnt bode well for the future, however we do make a point of losing these home friendlies, in 2002 we lost 2-0 to Utrecht,, it didnt look good, but what a season followed.

But as Jan Poortvliet has pointed out the real work starts here, in truth its still not about the result though, its about the manner of the team, tonight we will see a glimpse of what we can expect for the season and whether jan Poortvliet has to getdown to some hard work in the next seven days.   

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