FINDING NUNO

A return is a reminder of the day when Nuno wasn’t really Nuno.

- RICHARD JOLLY

Or not the Nuno Espirito Santo many thought they knew anyway. The Portuguese goes to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday with his Nottingham Forest team level on points with Arsenal. Three years ago, on his last visit there, his Tottenham side kicked off above their neighbours in the table. By the end of the North London derby, it was tempting to think there was no way back for Nuno.

His side went 3-0 down in 34 minutes. He admitted he got his gameplan wrong. A 4-3-3 formation featured Dele Alli and Tanguy Ndombele as high No 8s, leaving a hole at the heart of the midfield. A cautious strategist failed when he tried to be a cavalier. It was as though Nuno, aware of Tottenham’s traditions of attacking, tried to be something he was not. Wolves’ best manager in the last half-century had one of the shortest reigns in Spurs’ history.

Nuno goes back to Arsenal having shown he can adapt, but within the same principles. When he took the Spurs job – about seventh-choice, after a 72-day search – there were questions if he was trapped within a tactical straitjacket. His Wolves team played 3-4-3; very successfully with a 99-point promotion and twin seventh-place finishes, but it gave way to beard-stroking ennui. In his final season at Molineux, Wolves averaged under a goal a game. Factor in Nuno’s bland public pronouncements and he forged a reputation as a dullard. It scarcely helped him at Spurs.