There is more than one way to success as a football manager.

Just look at Ronald Koeman and Mauricio Pochettino.

The pair have led Saints to excellent back-to-back campaigns.

Pochettino guided the club to eighth in the Premier League, with a brief flirtation with possibly an even better finish last season.

Daily Echo: Ronald Koeman

Saints manager Ronald Koeman

This time out Koeman looks certain to better that.

Saints need just one more point to break their record Premier League haul and look nailed on to end the campaign in seventh position at worse.

Yet the way they have got the club to those points could barely be any more different.

As men they have starkly different characters.

Pochettino was intense but warm.

There was a clear line not to be crossed, but he pulled people close to him by the way he behaved.

He commanded respect through not only authority but also his manner.

Even when he came up against Saints again for the first time since leaving the club for Tottenham at the end of last season at White Hart Lane he was still the same.

You would be tempted to say his high fives, back slapping and hugs of players, officials and others he knew from his Saints days was a charm offensive if it wasn’t for the fact that it was how he operated when in charge as well.

That is just Pochettino.

The Argentinian had what we might call a Latin temperament.

He could certainly get plenty fired up, and enjoyed a bit of sparring, but also had respect for those he liked and showed it in an affectionate and caring way.

His desire for more, for better, and that character meant his squad got very close to him.

Jack Cork once famously said that the work rate he demanded of his team required players to have two hearts, but they were prepared to embrace those methods and push tirelessly for the cause.

Not all managers could get a squad of millionaires to do that.

Koeman could not be more different as a character.

It’s hard to imagine many hugs, or a lot of back slapping. There is no Latin temperament, no outpouring of emotion on a regular basis.

He is so cool, calm and collected. Almost an ice man, at least in the front he puts up in his football management guise.

That is not to say he is not nice, because Koeman is a very engaging character, so interesting and thoughtful, but much more understated than Pochettino.

With Saints this season this season it looks like his methods will drive the club to even greater success than his predecessor managed.

Koeman has also pulled his squad close to him, albeit in a less over the top way, thanks to the respect he commands.

He has that aura of a guy who has played at the very highest level and has nothing to prove to anybody.

Though many of the players are too young to have seen him play, they are well aware of what he has achieved and the vast majority of players anywhere in world football would love even just a slender fraction of the success he has enjoyed.

Koeman takes a different approach to the training regime as well.

Whereas Pochettino was all about those double sessions and running the players hard to get them fit enough to play the high press, Koeman has his own methods for the style of play he employs.

It certainly has paid off in results.

In terms of the way they set the side out, that high tempo, high pressing game from Pochettino in a 4-2-3-1 formation was a real hallmark of his Saints team.

There have obviously been significant changes in personnel from this season to last but Koeman’s side is much more about possession.

Daily Echo: Mauricio Pochettino will face the press at St Mary's from 3pm.

Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino during his time in charge of Saints

They are happy to keep the ball, to pass it to death, and to probe.

They will go direct if they need to, but they are built on the foundations of great organisation and keeping ball possession.

Even though the formation is vaguely similar, with a flat back four, two holding midfielders, a big target man through the middle and three midfielders in more attacking roles, it is played differently.

Certainly Koeman has proven to be quite prepared to tinker with the side to suit the opposition a little more than Pochettino would, with the latter often preferring Saints to impose their style.

There is a slight misconception that Saints have struggled for goals more this year than last year.

Saints netted 54 times in their 38 Premier League games under Pochettino last season. Under Koeman they have scored 45 in 33 matches.

If they continued at their current average of 1.36 goals per game there would be just a couple between them.

However, at the back there has been a stark difference.

Whereas Saints last year conceded 46 goals, in itself not a bad record, this time out under Koeman they have let in a mere 24. That is a simply stunning achievement.

In terms of the transfer market it is never quite clear who is signing what players, but you have to say that the purchases in Koeman’s time have been first rate.

To have lost so many key players from that Pochettino side and to not only recover but to thrive in the way that they have is a remarkable feat.

During Pochettino’s time in charge there were a mixed bag of purchases. There were some good ones but few will forget the club record signing of Dani Osvaldo in a hurry.

Perhaps the biggest difference of all is obvious when you cast your mind back exactly one year from now.

All the talk was of Pochettino possibly upping and leaving, and while that was not put to bed restlessness seemed to grow in the camp with players also pinning their future to his and looking at the exit door.

Koeman is obviously going to be sought after as well, but seems very serious about honouring his contract at St Mary’s, providing a much more settled platform.

No doubt there will be changes in the squad this summer too, but having a great manager in place to deal with them leaves the club on a much stronger footing.

It would be all too easy to forget just how good Pochettino was for Saints in the passion and emotion of the game this weekend, but the overriding sense from the fans is that they feel they are better off with Koeman and his successful style.