When keeping it real (tight) goes wrong

When Nuno left Wolves it was clear that the timing was right. He had helped transform the club from a mid table Championship side to Europa League contenders inside two seasons – back-to-back 7th place finishes, European football, some famous wins over the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea, watched by their adoring fans on football live stream. The Portuguese had given so much to the club but the decline was evident and it was best for both parties to freshen things up. When the time came to ask what went wrong, many rightly pointed the finger at the goals scored column. With Raul Jimenez suffering a horrendous skull fracture in a victory over Arsenal, and his loanee replacement Willian Jose not really doing the business, Wolves were left short up front and struggled to score goals.

While it’s true that Nuno’s side scored less goals last season (36) than they did in their previous two when they finished 7th (47 and 51), one equally important factor in their demise can be seen in the goals conceded column. In 2018-19 and 2019-20 they conceded 46 and 40 goals respectively, while last season that number shot up to 52. At a time when Wolves needed to be as tight as ever at the back, while they struggled to find their feet without their Mexican talisman, they actually became more disjointed, conceded more goals and subsequently lost more games. That 12 goal swing between 2019-20 and 2020-21 played a significant role in the Black Country side finishing 13th instead of 7th. The lack of goals was always going to hurt them but if they could have maintained that organisation at the back they might have put more points on the board.

Nuno is often referred to as a defensive coach, a negative coach in some quarters. There is some truth in that, but like it or not, such an approach can be effective in football. The only issue is when you focus on staying tight, don’t commit men forward, but still concede goals. This defensive frailty and lack of cohesion has been noted on more than one occasion this season in the Spurs defence as Nuno’s past failures seem to be coming back to haunt him. The pragmatic approach is there for all to see, the goals scored looks about right (only Wolves and Brighton have scored less than Spurs’ 9 goals in the top half) but instead of narrowly taking all three points they are losing games. One big reason for that is their inability to keep clean sheets. No team in the top half of the table has conceded more than Spurs’ 12 goals. They sit with a -3 goal difference, again the only team in the top half to have a negative goal difference, and when compared to Liverpool’s +16, it really puts into perspective how far away the North London club are from the elite in the Premier League.

Modern football is rife with hysteria and the problems at Spurs are by no means as big as some would make out. They are fifth in the Premier League and four points off top spot, having already played Man City, Chelsea, and Arsenal. Nonetheless, there are concerns to be voiced and one of them should be the defensive record. After a fine start to the season which saw The Lilywhites win three successive games 1-0 against Champions Manchester City, Nuno’s old club Wolves and newly promoted Watford, they lost back-to-back games 3-0 against Crystal Palace and Chelsea, before losing 3-1 to bitter rivals Arsenal. Three games into the season, many were thinking this was Nuno back to his miserly best, grinding out 1-0 wins and winning the Premier League Manager of the Month award for August. Eight games in and the picture has changed dramatically.

The key point for the club’s fans to remember is that Nuno is not going to overhaul his style completely and start playing expansive football. For him to do so would probably be a mistake and lead to even more goals conceded and even heavier losses. He’s going to stick to what he knows to be effective. The problem with his style is that if the players don’t take on board what he says quickly and get into shape, they aren’t going to score enough goals to bail themselves out. Nuno’s style of play works if the defensive is extremely stingy. When you’re shipping two or three goals a game you need to be outscoring the opposition which is not his strong point.

It’s difficult to see if sitting back and playing passive just simply can’t work for Spurs as a template, or if individual players are failing to do their duty and letting down their teammates. One thing is for sure. It’s not working right now. They have the worst defensive record in the top half of the league and for a coach who likes to play it safe, that will not make good reading. While Spurs fans may dream of high pressing, quick sweeping counter attacks and goals, and they may see glimpses of that here and there this season, they are probably better off hoping their backline develops some more solidity so they can grind out some results and turn some 3-1 defeats into 1-0 wins.