FORMER Manager Watch: Nuno Espírito Santo

[Metalhead]

They have already reached this stage, i don’t even blame Nuno fully, he’s simply just not good enough.

He’s also working under awful owners who have failed yet another manager, whilst also being appointed in the first place, when his style of play is clearly not in line with the club.

Realistically though, I can't see another project being abandoned so soon. I realise that you don't see things getting better but I can't see that being the point of view of the hierarchy at this early stage and it is very early.

 

[Tucker]

Or he’s only a few matches into his tenure and the team is a work in progress? ??‍

The entitlement in this thread is ridiculous. It took about a season and a half for Poch to get the team playing to its potential. Kane, Dembele, Son etc… weren’t all what they went to be in the early days. The team was inconsistent, fans were grumbling with a lot of the same reactionary comments we’re seeing now. But with time the team evolved and improved.

It might not work out with Nuno but FFS let’s give him more than 5 matches before writing him off. There was a clear template with how we should play from the first half of the Chelsea match. Nuno acknowledged as much in his post match comments. Everyone was calling him Mourinho 2.0 but I never seen Jose setup a side to high press on such a coherent way. So maybe Nuno has his own ideas and isn’t just this defensive manager that everyone has labelled him as.

It seems the guy can’t win - everyone was saying they want us to play more attacking players and look to dominate - which we did first half. Now because we lost he still gets shit. Just ridiculous really.

I’m really surprised to see people throwing their toys out of the pram already, it’s only been five games. Like you say, the sense of entitlement I’m seeing among some posters is preposterous. I genuinely think some of these people want the club to fail just so they can be proved right and continue to wallow in misery. They can’t wait for it all to go wrong.

 

[Gassin's finest]

I’m really surprised to see people throwing their toys out of the pram already, it’s only been five games. Like you say, the sense of entitlement I’m seeing among some posters is preposterous. I genuinely think some of these people want the club to fail just so they can be proved right and continue to wallow in misery. They can’t wait for it all to go wrong.

It was the same with Jose. I didn't want him, but you have to back him.

 

[13VanDerBale13]

Or he’s only a few matches into his tenure and the team is a work in progress? ??‍

The entitlement in this thread is ridiculous. It took about a season and a half for Poch to get the team playing to its potential. Kane, Dembele, Son etc… weren’t all what they went to be in the early days. The team was inconsistent, fans were grumbling with a lot of the same reactionary comments we’re seeing now. But with time the team evolved and improved.

It might not work out with Nuno but FFS let’s give him more than 5 matches before writing him off. There was a clear template with how we should play from the first half of the Chelsea match. Nuno acknowledged as much in his post match comments. Everyone was calling him Mourinho 2.0 but I never seen Jose setup a side to high press on such a coherent way. So maybe Nuno has his own ideas and isn’t just this defensive manager that everyone has labelled him as.

It seems the guy can’t win - everyone was saying they want us to play more attacking players and look to dominate - which we did first half. Now because we lost he still gets shit. Just ridiculous really.

View attachment 96895

Obviously he deserves more time & will be given time, but these statistics are hardly encouraging are they …

Let’s see if he continues to play an attacking minded team & on the front foot, if he does & we still see these sort of numbers then we have big problems.

The biggest issue he has atm is getting the best out of Kane, which in itself will be a struggle because it has to come within the player.

 

[Gassin's finest]

he looks lost when talking to the media too that doesn't help fill with confidence

Its demonstrable from his time at Wolves that he hates talking to the media. Don't expect anything other than minimal responses from him during interviews and pressers. Which personally I prefer. Poch was too pally, and Jose was too heated.

 

[Gassin's finest]

Or he’s only a few matches into his tenure and the team is a work in progress? ??‍

The entitlement in this thread is ridiculous. It took about a season and a half for Poch to get the team playing to its potential. Kane, Dembele, Son etc… weren’t all what they went to be in the early days. The team was inconsistent, fans were grumbling with a lot of the same reactionary comments we’re seeing now. But with time the team evolved and improved.

It might not work out with Nuno but FFS let’s give him more than 5 matches before writing him off. There was a clear template with how we should play from the first half of the Chelsea match. Nuno acknowledged as much in his post match comments. Everyone was calling him Mourinho 2.0 but I never seen Jose setup a side to high press on such a coherent way. So maybe Nuno has his own ideas and isn’t just this defensive manager that everyone has labelled him as.

It seems the guy can’t win - everyone was saying they want us to play more attacking players and look to dominate - which we did first half. Now because we lost he still gets shit. Just ridiculous really.

I hope Nuno sticks with this approach now. We won't be playing the likes of Chelsea every week. Playing that way against lower table opposition like this weekend should be a different story.

 

[muppetman]

It seems the guy can’t win - everyone was saying they want us to play more attacking players and look to dominate - which we did first half. Now because we lost he still gets shit. Just ridiculous really.

Surely it's obvious that when people talk about front foot football, wanting to dominate and play attacking football what they actually mean is they want to win ands preferably win comfortably?

So many people dress it up by talking about style but it's bollocks - anything other than smashing other teams 8-0 they way they do in FIFA is just not good enough!

 

[EQP]

Feels like every game he’s talking about wanting to improve & nothing ever changes.

Coming out with these quotes shows me his level of delusion, which is why we’re seeing no improvement.

Thats not true. Our Chelsea 1st half performance was a vast improvement on our Palace performance. He now has a blueprint to build on and I hope to see more cohesive build up and quick transitions from this team.

 

[eddiebailey]

Realistically though, I can't see another project being abandoned so soon. I realise that you don't see things getting better but I can't see that being the point of view of the hierarchy at this early stage and it is very early.

I am not sure Nuno counts as a project. Patrici is the project, who the manager is is less important.

 

[ajspurs]

Thats not true. Our Chelsea 1st half performance was a vast improvement on our Palace performance. He now has a blueprint to build on and I hope to see more cohesive build up and quick transitions from this team.

Yeah, if we can sustain that over a longer period of time in the match then there's every chance that we may start to see more success on the pitch. The Chelsea 1st half performance was better than in the games we'd even won IMO, minus the City game. Not every team can bring on a Kante to sway proceedings at HT that's for sure.

 

[13VanDerBale13]

Thats not true. Our Chelsea 1st half performance was a vast improvement on our Palace performance. He now has a blueprint to build on and I hope to see more cohesive build up and quick transitions from this team.

It wasn’t just the Palace that needed improving but yeah let’s see what he does going forward, because as I said above those statistical numbers need dramatically improving.

 

[Albertbarich]

He really really needs kane to hit form. Get him and son scoring and nothing will look and feel as dramatic as it does now

 

[Ginol-ooh!]

Or he’s only a few matches into his tenure and the team is a work in progress? ??‍

The entitlement in this thread is ridiculous. It took about a season and a half for Poch to get the team playing to its potential. Kane, Dembele, Son etc… weren’t all what they went to be in the early days. The team was inconsistent, fans were grumbling with a lot of the same reactionary comments we’re seeing now. But with time the team evolved and improved.

It might not work out with Nuno but FFS let’s give him more than 5 matches before writing him off. There was a clear template with how we should play from the first half of the Chelsea match. Nuno acknowledged as much in his post match comments. Everyone was calling him Mourinho 2.0 but I never seen Jose setup a side to high press on such a coherent way. So maybe Nuno has his own ideas and isn’t just this defensive manager that everyone has labelled him as.

It seems the guy can’t win - everyone was saying they want us to play more attacking players and look to dominate - which we did first half. Now because we lost he still gets shit. Just ridiculous really.

Poch, while being a great manager, also got a bit lucky to have one of the greatest English strikers of all time in Kane waiting to break through from the academy. Obviously he did well in managing him and giving him the chance, but if for some reason Kane wasn't there and we had to rely on Ade and Soldado up front, then we would have been a bit stuffed in his first season in charge. Poch did do well in his first season, but you do wonder how it would have gone if Kane hadn't emerged from the academy that year.

 

[shelfboy68]

Delusional

 

[yojambo]

Or he’s only a few matches into his tenure and the team is a work in progress? ??‍

The entitlement in this thread is ridiculous. It took about a season and a half for Poch to get the team playing to its potential. Kane, Dembele, Son etc… weren’t all what they went to be in the early days. The team was inconsistent, fans were grumbling with a lot of the same reactionary comments we’re seeing now. But with time the team evolved and improved.

It might not work out with Nuno but FFS let’s give him more than 5 matches before writing him off. There was a clear template with how we should play from the first half of the Chelsea match. Nuno acknowledged as much in his post match comments. Everyone was calling him Mourinho 2.0 but I never seen Jose setup a side to high press on such a coherent way. So maybe Nuno has his own ideas and isn’t just this defensive manager that everyone has labelled him as.

It seems the guy can’t win - everyone was saying they want us to play more attacking players and look to dominate - which we did first half. Now because we lost he still gets shit. Just ridiculous really.

Yep. I remember being so exasperated when we threw away a 2 goal lead at home to Stoke (I think) early in Poch's second season that I said I was done supporting Spurs lol. Look what that team turned into. Shit takes time.

 

[Metalhead]

I’m really surprised to see people throwing their toys out of the pram already, it’s only been five games. Like you say, the sense of entitlement I’m seeing among some posters is preposterous. I genuinely think some of these people want the club to fail just so they can be proved right and continue to wallow in misery. They can’t wait for it all to go wrong.

Its not going to happen - I just don't see the point in having a negative frame of mind around every manager that comes in that isn't one's own ideal choice. For me it's kind of part and parcel of supporting the club to get behind the manager/head coach. It seems like the idea of accepting and taking the long term view of a project is out of the window these days and is definitely one of the reasons why I feel disconnected with top level football these days.

 

[13VanDerBale13]

Yep. I remember being so exasperated when we threw away a 2 goal lead at home to Stoke (I think) early in Poch's second season that I said I was done supporting Spurs lol. Look what that team turned into. Shit takes time.

It takes time Ofc but we need to start seeing a blueprint of a Nuno Tottenham team sharpish & not just 1 half in a free hit game like the City game was.

 

[rez9000]

Not every team can bring on a Kante to sway proceedings at HT that's for sure.

And therein lies the problem, or one of the problems.

If Nuno fails, it won't be because he's Nuno. Our first XI may be, on paper, pretty good. Even putting aside the mentality issues - both individually and collectively - the dropoff in quality beyond that first XI is a massive problem.

No-one realistically expects, or should expect, for the entire first team squad to be world-class. Not even Man City have world-class players in every single position throughout the entire squad, so expecting us to have that would be unrealistic.

But the point is that when Nuno made his changes, the overall quality dropped - not that I'm saying that Skipp and Gil are bad players; but it's demonstrative of a recruitment policy that is, at best, haphazard. It's the old adage - strength in depth. We don't have it.

At the very least you would expect the overall strength of a team on the pitch to remain about the same when you make a substitution. It might change in different areas of the field - midfield strengthened at the expense of attack, or defence strengthened at the expense of midfield, or whatever, but overall being about the same.

Now obviously, that's very very hard to quantify, but the eye-test helps in that scenario. Yesterday, when we subbed off Tanguy and Gio, the overall strength of the team on the field dropped enough for it to have been significant. It may not have made a difference to the result as we were already two goals down, but it showed that our squad building is, to put it mildly, poor.

When one says that Nuno doesn't have the tools needed to do the job, that's where the root of the problem lies.

There are other factors too. We shouldn't, at this early stage of the season, be running out of steam after only 45 minutes. If it were the later parts of the season, of course, fatigue will definitely play a part. But we're only 8 games into the season, if you count Europe, and the players should be at the peak of their seasonal energy levels. Not one of them has played more than 5 games for Spurs this season. When Poch was in charge (no, I'm not saying he should be or anything - just drawing a comparison) we played with more intensity for the entire match. So where are the energy levels?

Then there's the very clear head-drop moment. As soon as that second goal went in, I saw it with my own eyes - our players heads visibly dropped. While they were walking back into position, I saw every single Spurs player looking at the ground. Where's the team spirit? Where's the will to win? Where, if we're losing, is the will to fight until the last second even in a losing cause?

None of these flaws have been caused by Nuno. Or Mason. Or Mourinho. Or Pochettino. They are a symptom of a club that seemingly doesn't have a clue what it wants to be or get, with ownership that either doesn't have the ability or doesn't have the will to do anything about it.

 

[Aphex]

 

[shelfboy68]

Its not going to happen - I just don't see the point in having a negative frame of mind around every manager that comes in that isn't one's own ideal choice. For me it's kind of part and parcel of supporting the club to get behind the manager/head coach. It seems like the idea of accepting and taking the long term view of a project is out of the window these days and is definitely one of the reasons why I feel disconnected with top level football these days.

Surely your disconnection must come from the fact that our team is dire with no indentity whatsoever and the club is completely rudderless, I would say for most of us that is the main gripe along with the prospect of waiting even more years just to see if anything happens.