What Nuno’s Wolves can tell us about Nuno’s Spurs

Ask Wolves fans what they think about Nuno and you will get a mixed set of responses. There are a few things that remain consistent though. They love him as a human being. For the first two seasons, the football was excellent. They were sad to see him go, even if some fans felt that it was the right decision. Opinions on Nuno may vary, but facts can’t be argued with. We’re going to take a look at some facts about Wolves under Nuno, mixed in with a little bit of opinion, to try to give us an idea of what we can expect from Spurs next season.

Nuno is a pragmatist first

It’s well known that Nuno is not a front-foot manager. Throughout his career, he has been safety first. This isn’t just when he managed smaller sides either. At Rio Ave and Wolves in the Premier League, perhaps pragmatism was the way forward, but his other jobs included Valencia, Porto and Wolves in the Championship. All of those jobs had similar expectations in terms of style of football and win percentage as the Spurs job. However, Nuno approached those jobs like the equivalent of sticking on 12 when playing online casino blackjack.

He played with three centre-backs and two wing-backs with Wolves in the Championship. That’s not exactly a hugely positive system. Admittedly, it won them the league with 99 points, but they often struggled to break down teams that sat back against them. This was something carried over into the Premier League, where Wolves often performed best against teams that attacked them. In fact, in almost a parallel with their Championship-winning season, they failed to beat the bottom club in their first Premier League season.

Nuno has moved to a four-at-the-back formation so far with Spurs, something that he trialled in a few games for Wolves last season. Arguably, he has better personnel for that formation here at Spurs, but it’s not something he has had a huge amount of success with. Playing on the front foot isn’t something Nuno has done often in his career. This is not to say that he won’t be able to achieve it here with better attacking players than he is used to, but it also might be difficult for him to break the habit of a lifetime.

He’s not always loyal to his ‘favourites’

A lot of Wolves fans felt that Nuno was too loyal to his favourite players. In Wolves’ second season in the Premier League, both Matt Doherty and Diogo Jota continued to play even when both players were in poor form. It was only the emergence of Pedro Neto that relegated Jota to the bench for the final third of the season. Even then, it felt like Nuno didn’t really want to play Neto – he just knew that he couldn’t leave him out of the side anymore. It’s safe to say that a lot of Wolves fans were frustrated by this.

That’s why it was such a shock when the next summer both players were sold. We’re all well aware of Doherty – he had a poor season last year. Although it could be argued that this was due to Mourinho buying him and then not playing a system that played to his strengths. However, with Nuno apparently sticking with standard full-backs, it could be that Doherty may be on his way again, or he will at least be destined for a season of warming the bench.

This is also evident in how Nuno treated Rúben Neves. It may come as a bit of a shock to see his name mentioned – he was pretty much an ever-present for Wolves under Nuno’s tenure. However, in his previous job at Porto, Neves was frozen out by Nuno. This is a positive sign really. Nuno realises that players can improve and evolve, and just because they didn’t get a chance before doesn’t mean that they won’t in the future.

He knows what Spurs can do

It’s safe to say that Nuno had a mixed record against Spurs as Wolves manager. While he managed to grab some famous wins for the men in old gold, he also oversaw some shocking defeats. It puts him in a good position as new Spurs boss as he will have a fresh view on the team from the outside.

He will be able to spot weaknesses, which he did very well in the games in which Wolves performed to a high standard. He will also be well aware of the team’s strengths, which again he saw first-hand when they performed at their best against Wolves. If Nuno is able to iron out those weaknesses while keeping the team’s strengths, then he could go on to be a big success.

Wolves fans loved him

While some Wolves fans felt that it was the right time to move on, it’s safe to say that almost every Wolves fan loved Nuno in some way. He took the city of Wolverhampton to his heart, even being awarded an honorary doctorate from the city’s university. Nuno bought into being Wolves manager more so than anyone else in living memory. Even Mick McCarthy, who was the last moderately successful Wolves manager, didn’t take Wolverhampton into his heart like Nuno did.

It’s not just how he took to the club that made Nuno a fan favourite though. For the first two and a half seasons, the football that Wolves played was fantastic. Although, as we previously mentioned, Nuno’s Wolves were pragmatic first and foremost, they were also blistering on the counter. With Conor Coady and Neves both capable of launching counter-attacks with pinpoint long-range passes, Jota and Raúl Jiménez a dynamite strike duo, Adama Traoré in the form of his life, and roaming wingbacks, Wolves were a force to be reckoned with. A trip to the Europa League quarter-final, the FA Cup semi-final, and two seventh-place Premier League finishes meant that Nuno took Wolves back to the big stage. Now, it’s his chance to try to offer a similar level of improvement. If he pulls it off, then it could be a hell of a ride.