FORMER Manager Watch: Nuno Espírito Santo

[fishhhandaricecake]

This is where the problem lies, we’ve played 6 games and 6 different formations. Most managers have a tactical philosophy that they stick with particularly at the start as they know it inside out and get the players drilled in that formation so that everyone knows they’re job both in and out of possession. Nuno is making the moves of a manager in the last throws of his tenure.

To be fair to Nuno that’s not true. He’s played 4-3-3 in all league games unless I’m mistaken. The personnel has changed sometimes enforced sometimes not but he’s not chopped and changed formation it’s just that aside from the City game it’s completely not worked.

It was said after the 9 pts from 9 games and then the palace loss that if we keep playing like we were we’d lose games and Arsenal and Win over who especially Wolves were playing very well but not scoring would come good eventually and sure enough as of now both those teams are joe ahead of us.

I know Villa are a tough side but after the 3 losses in a row we really need to put in a performance today. Let’s hope we do

 

[guy]

Arry:
Blaming Nuno Espirito Santo for Tottenham's recent struggles is 'unfair', insists former Spurs boss Harry Redknapp - who says the squad simply isn't good enough and lacks 'leaders and characters'.

'It makes me laugh when people say how much these players - and the bulk of them are still there - loved playing under Mauricio Pochettino. Well, if they loved him that much, you’d have thought they might have tried a bit harder and he wouldn’t have got the sack in the first place.

'They weren’t exactly pulling up any trees in his last season. Jose is up there with the best managers around and I honestly felt they had a squad to challenge for the title, but he couldn’t unlock it either.

'There are certain times at certain clubs when you just can’t do anything about it, no matter who is in charge. That’s Tottenham right now.

'You can talk about tactics but when the situation is like this you want leaders, you want players standing up and putting in the effort... and there’s something badly missing. Poch couldn’t get a tune out of them in the end, Jose couldn’t and Nuno is finding the same.'

Redknapp: Nuno is NOT to blame for Tottenham's woeful recent form

Spurs began the season superbly - winning their first three games to rise to the summit of the table - but have since lost the next three, including a dismal 3-0 loss against rivals Arsenal.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Arry:
Blaming Nuno Espirito Santo for Tottenham's recent struggles is 'unfair', insists former Spurs boss Harry Redknapp - who says the squad simply isn't good enough and lacks 'leaders and characters'.

'It makes me laugh when people say how much these players - and the bulk of them are still there - loved playing under Mauricio Pochettino. Well, if they loved him that much, you’d have thought they might have tried a bit harder and he wouldn’t have got the sack in the first place.

'They weren’t exactly pulling up any trees in his last season. Jose is up there with the best managers around and I honestly felt they had a squad to challenge for the title, but he couldn’t unlock it either.

'There are certain times at certain clubs when you just can’t do anything about it, no matter who is in charge. That’s Tottenham right now.

'You can talk about tactics but when the situation is like this you want leaders, you want players standing up and putting in the effort... and there’s something badly missing. Poch couldn’t get a tune out of them in the end, Jose couldn’t and Nuno is finding the same.'

Redknapp: Nuno is NOT to blame for Tottenham's woeful recent form

Spurs began the season superbly - winning their first three games to rise to the summit of the table - but have since lost the next three, including a dismal 3-0 loss against rivals Arsenal.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Harry also has said the last 2 seasons he thought we were title contenders ?

With Poch as Toby said this week the manager and squad were burnt out after 5 years of massive effort it had run its course. Under Jose he dropped players in and out of the squad and the tactics won’t have been fun to play in and Nunos tactics are similar so whilst some of the players do need to take a look at themselves I’ not surprised some of the players might not have been putting in quite 110%.

Also the Kane situation won’t have been helping things behind the scenes.

Also it’s not the same players as under Poch, the core of his team has gone and we have about 3 players in Lloris, Son and Kane who started in the CL final.

I like Harry but he’s not completely right here

 

[Trix]

He's clearly been told NDombele has to play.

 

[Monkey boy]

To be fair to Nuno that’s not true. He’s played 4-3-3 in all league games unless I’m mistaken. The personnel has changed sometimes enforced sometimes not but he’s not chopped and changed formation it’s just that aside from the City game it’s completely not worked.

It was said after the 9 pts from 9 games and then the palace loss that if we keep playing like we were we’d lose games and Arsenal and Win over who especially Wolves were playing very well but not scoring would come good eventually and sure enough as of now both those teams are joe ahead of us.

I know Villa are a tough side but after the 3 losses in a row we really need to put in a performance today. Let’s hope we do

ok may be I used the wrong word when I said formation when infact I was meaning tactics. We’ve had sit back and counter, we’ve had a front press, we’ve had hoof ball and I’m really not sure what the tactics were for Crystal Palace’s.

 

[Teegart]

There’s one thing I think of when I compare Nuno and Potter, and that’s Shane Duffy. Hear me out.

His loan spell at Celtic had me legitimately wondering if he had played professional football before, without question one of the worst players I’ve ever seen. Couldn’t defend, couldn’t pass, positionally all over the place. Yet he’s starting every week for an extremely well playing Brighton side under Potter.

Whatever “it” is, Potter clearly has it, if he turned that turnip into a part of an excellent Brighton side. If Potter can do that with Duffy, I’d absolutely love to see what he’d do with our squad, as I have not one doubt Duffy under Nuno would be every bit as bad as his time at Celtic.

 

[Spurzinho]

My worry would if we see Ndombele in the 10. That would mean ball progression is down to Skipp and PEH, two players not known for their ability to carry the ball through a press. If we're not careful we could end up lumping it long again.

 

[MassadaTom]

There’s one thing I think of when I compare Nuno and Potter, and that’s Shane Duffy. Hear me out.

His loan spell at Celtic had me legitimately wondering if he had played professional football before, without question one of the worst players I’ve ever seen. Couldn’t defend, couldn’t pass, positionally all over the place. Yet he’s starting every week for an extremely well playing Brighton side under Potter.

Whatever “it” is, Potter clearly has it, if he turned that turnip into a part of an excellent Brighton side. If Potter can do that with Duffy, I’d absolutely love to see what he’d do with our squad, as I have not one doubt Duffy under Nuno would be every bit as bad as his time at Celtic.

Nuno did it with Doherty at wolves. So well that he convinced Mourinho that he is a Player.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

He's clearly been told NDombele has to play.

You’d have thought so otherwise on merit GLC should be starting all day long.

Worrying if he’s being told who to play though and tbh can’t see Levy getting involved in team selection tbh but is strange

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Much better today far far more chances and shots. Scored 2 and could’ve been more. Probably the best we’ve looked all season. Better shape and Emerson and Royal finding their feet. Playing 3 cms rather than shoehorning Dele into LCM has also helped.

Still some concerns about our ability to retain the ball and our shape but far more positive signs today, let’s hope we can build on this.

 

[EQP]

Hitchen and Paratici back on the bench and magically our team plays better ??

 

[Guntz]

Still have a lot of doubts long-term with Nuno - but 3 points is the most important thing right now.

A big improvement on last week and hopefully we can use this as a springboard going forward.

 

[Metalhead]

Still a lot of doubts regarding our long-term success with Nuno - but 3 points is all that matters right now.

A big improvement on last week and hopefully we can use this as a springboard going forward.

Absolutely - early days but hopefully Nuno is close to his preferred lineup and it'll be a confidence booster for the players.

 

[wiggo24]

Better today, but will remain to be seen how much of today was Nuno and how much of today was simply the squad reverting back to a more familiar 4-2-3-1 and using what they've been working on for years under various managers. Hopefully we stick with this shape though as we looked so much more creative.

17 shots is the most we've had in a league game by a distance and Kane actually looked like a vague threat for the first time this season.

 

[-Afri-Coy-]

Much better today far far more chances and shots. Scored 2 and could’ve been more. Probably the best we’ve looked all season. Better shape and Emerson and Royal finding their feet. Playing 3 cms rather than shoehorning Dele into LCM has also helped.

Still some concerns about our ability to retain the ball and our shape but far more positive signs today, let’s hope we can build on this.

Completely agree with this, just to add I think Skipp and PEH did very well against a nasty, battling Villa MF And Tanguy worked his socks off. Who would’ve thought that would be our best MF3, hopefully gives us the stability we need in MF. Romero needs time though, he still has a mistake or two in him but I put that down to teething problems.

 

[Wsussexspur]

I still don’t think Nuno is the right man for the job. However today was a lot better from him and brought himself some breathing room.

We actually looked at times like we had a plan on how to attack. Needs to build on this performance now and take it in to the Newcastle and West Ham games. As certainly if we lose to Newcastle todays result and performance will pale into insignificance.

 

[JayB]

Some green shoots and one step closer to finding our best XI. The Skipp/Hojbjerg double pivot, with a creative No. 10 playing in front of them, is clearly the path forward.

I'd say it reflects poorly on Nuno that it took two months for the penny to drop that Dele is never a CM, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Daniel (who interfered in footballing matters for the thousandth time to block Dele leaving the club last January) was insistent that there had to be a place in the side to rehabilitate a declining asset.

Now we need to find who between GLC and Ndombele will seize the opportunity, as well as who will partner Romero. Dier was shocking (yet again) for Villa's goal and should be dropped. Once we find our answer to those two positions we should be able to move forward with a settled XI for league matches.

 

[TheTanguy]

Regardless of what you think of him, this is a very important win just before the international break and must feel good as he has been under a lot of pressure in recent weeks.

 

[synththfc]

much better today. 4231 is tottenham. skipp and romero need to play every match possible. romero dominated the air and their forwards and skipp dominated the villa midfield(which was packed with quality, i might add… mcginn and luiz are both top class). emerson great as well, much better fit for RB than tanganga. great performance and something to build on.

on the other hand, we’re lacking a top #10 for the 4231, ndombele just isn’t that.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Better today, but will remain to be seen how much of today was Nuno and how much of today was simply the squad reverting back to a more familiar 4-2-3-1 and using what they've been working on for years under various managers. Hopefully we stick with this shape though as we looked so much more creative.

17 shots is the most we've had in a league game by a distance and Kane actually looked like a vague threat for the first time this season.

Mabye it is a bit of both.

I watched the Crystal Palace documentary which was about the season they got promoted under Ian Holloway but he had come in half way through and Dougie Freedman had had Palace riding high playing a 4-2-3-1 that the players understood and that suited them. Holloway came in and changed it to 4-3-3 and their results got worse and worse, eventually the chairman and players both asked him to change it and he did and their form improved and they got promoted, sometimes there is a system that just suits a group of players.

Was hard to tell if we definitely moved to a 4-2-3-1 today as at times it still looked like a 4-3-3 but if we did then that is good.

It also helped dropping Dele who is not a LCM and Royal and Romero are finding their feet.

Still some concerns about our ability to retain possession and our build-up play generally but great that we got the win against a very in-form side and great that we had far more shots and created far more chances than in any other game so far so positive signs to build on, important win but the performance was almost more important.