Basically a combination of what we were told by Valencia and Porto fans, and what I've experienced during his tenure here.
At Porto, he didn't do too badly, but failing to win the league and any cups saw him sacked. He approached games with a Defensive mindset and struggled to break down teams that defended.
Same as at Valencia, when he left there he hadn't lost many games, he just drew too many.
You can split his tenure into three parts, championship and pre Wembley defeat to Watford and post Wembley defeat.
Championship we were too good. We had signed players from top sides in Europe and waltzed it. We were comfortable BUT we didn't turn teams over. We went 1 or 2 up and stepped off the gas and controlled games. But we could afford to do this because the skill gap was so wide.
Pre-wembley:
We pressed teams and counter attacked to perfection with pace. Obviously as a new team to the league, teams saw us as vulnerable and tried to attack and we exploited it, this was some of the better football we played and we became known for this swashbuckling counter attacking style.
When teams didn't attack and sat back, we didn't have the ability to break them down like we did in the championship. We lost twice to Huddersfield who finished on 16 pts, conceded 76 goals, and only won 3 times.
Wembley:
Raced into a 2-0 lead then sat back. Conceded a first, Nuno made subs to defend lead rather than remain a threat on the counter. Lost our attacking threat, lost 3-2. This marked the change.
Post Wembley:
Refused to commit men forward, at all. We lost all style, counter attacks went out the window, Neves' role changed from being an orchestrator a la Pirlo, into basically babysitting Conor Coady for 90 minutes and us playing with a back 6.
Intent from set pieces dried up.
Same squad selections week in week out. Our only tactic was give it to Adama. Every match was groundhog day, strikers were instructed to come back and defend, so when we did break through the lines with Adama, we had nobody in the box to cross to.
I maintain that last two seasons we did not have any attacking training at all, there was zero cohesion or pattern to attacks, it relied on individual brilliance from Adama and Neto. We focused on nullifying the opposition and their tactics. It was very spurs/late united Mourinhoesque.
If you get the best out of Nuno:
Fast counter attacks, overlapping fullbacks (he did invert Doherty but that's because Doherty is a shithead who spent most of his days stood on the penalty spot to stat pad his FPL while Moutinho or Dendoncker covered the RB spot) and inside forwards running at centre backs. Long raking balls from midfielders switching the play.
This style won't work for Spurs as the onus is on them to break down teams, rather than rely solely on the counter attack. Which is why I'm strongly of the belief it won't end well.
Nuno is a good guy who builds a rapport with the fans, but this is a double edged sword, as his nice persona to the fans gives him "credit in the bank" and saves him from being asked the tough questions.
