The arrival of Nuno Espirito Santo to Tottenham Hotspur was met with mixed reviews – and based on the season thus far, any lingering concerns have been validated.
They’re still in the League Cup and the Conference League campaign seems to be going along without too many bumps in the road, but we’re talking about a club that featured in the Champions League just over two years ago.
The expectations should be higher and right now, Nuno isn’t living up to his end of the deal.
“Set up shop” style
The wheels were beginning to come off at Wolves before Nuno left and one of the reasons for that was his negative style of play. From bringing on defenders for forwards all the way through to sitting on a 1-0 lead with some of the best attacking players in the league, there was a real sense of negativity in his tactical approach. Unfortunately for Spurs, that bad habit seems to have followed him down to the capital.
Pre-existing struggles
Daniel Levy has been at the heart of many frustrations within the Tottenham camp for the last few years and fans still don’t appear to have forgiven him and Joe Lewis for the European Super League & COVID-19 response tandem. Loyal employees were losing their jobs, the identity of the club came into question and Nuno was seemingly always going to come in with his back against the wall in the perfect storm.
Derby day frustration
Wolves supporters will be the first ones to highlight Nuno Espirito Santo’s “it’s just another game” mentality when it comes to derby day, despite the fact it’s one of the most important dates on the calendar for fans. After failing to beat lowly West Brom in two meetings you’d have thought he’d sharpen up and get serious in his new role, but in Tottenham’s 3-1 loss to Arsenal last weekend they never really seemed to get after their bitter rivals.
Jose without the charisma
Nuno feels more and more like a carbon copy of Jose Mourinho with each passing day and the worst part is that he seems to be even more defensive with Harry Kane having to drop into a makeshift DM role just to get the ball. Still, Jose at least had the kind of charisma that would make some players want to go headfirst into battle, whereas Nuno just isn’t built for the inspiring leader role.
The managerial merry-go-round
There must have been five or six names mentioned in connection with Tottenham Hotspur before Nuno was hired – with there even being talk of Mauricio Pochettino returning to North London after a brief hiatus. As a result, the Portuguese boss was always going to be seen as a last resort and based on their pre-Villa run of three league losses on the bounce, you’d have to say it’s all looking a bit dysfunctional.
Featured image credit: Getty
