Philosophy is the word of the week at Tottenham Hotspur following their humbling defeat to Arsenal in Sunday’s north London derby.
The fallout from the 3-1 loss has seen Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust request a meeting with the club’s board to discuss the “short and long-term strategic vision”, while the spotlight has shone on Daniel Levy’s words when addressing fans in May.
The Spurs chairman said: “We are acutely aware of the need to select someone whose values reflect those of our great club and return to playing football with the style for which we are known – free-flowing, attacking and entertaining – whilst continuing to embrace our desire to see young players flourish from our academy alongside experienced talent.”
Fast forward four months and Nuno is already under pressure. Three straight 1-0 wins in the Premier League led to a manager of the month award, but results have soured in September with 3-0 defeats to Crystal Palace and Chelsea, a 2-2 draw with Rennes in the Conference League, and only progression in the EFL Cup to shout about – albeit after a penalty shootout against Nuno’s former club Wolves.
The damaging Arsenal defeat made it a run of five games without a win for Spurs, a sequence which has seen them face more shots than they have attempted.
!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(e){if(void 0!==e.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var t=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var a in e.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r=0;r<t.length;r++){if(t[r].contentWindow===e.source)t[r].style.height=e.data["datawrapper-height"][a]+"px"}}}))}();
Hence the questions of when this “free-flowing, attacking and entertaining” football is going to surface. Well aware that he is under pressure, Nuno was bullish ahead of Spurs’ match at home to Mura in the Conference League on Thursday.
“I’ve been told [the philosophy] and everybody knows,” Nuno said. “It’s football, everybody wants to play good. Everybody wants to play offensively, everybody wants to score. This is what we chase.
“Sometimes it’s not possible but we are aware that this is what we want to do but it takes a building process to achieve it and we are trying.
“The criticism is normal. Everybody knows how this industry works. When you don’t play good, when you don’t perform and results don’t go your way, criticism is something you have to deal with. We understand it and it’s up to us to react and change it.”
The building process arguably begins in Europe, with the Conference League offering Nuno his best shot at surviving beyond Christmas.
The expectancy will be to top Group G – which features Vitesse, Rennes and Mura – and while this feat would hardly win Nuno a new wave of supporters, this competition does present him with the opportunity to put this desire to play offensive football into practice – or more vitally, actual match practice.
Nuno must therefore view the Conference League as a potential springboard for success, a chance to instil tactics which are then replicated in tougher Premier League tests.
That would mean bucking the trend of playing second-string XIs, and though Nuno may be reluctant to field his strongest side two times a week, it may be less harmful in the short-term for Nuno to go big against Mura and work with the players he wants to perform week in, week out in the Premier League.
There is no denying a crucial period await Spurs. After their next three European games, they face Aston Villa (Sunday 3 October), West Ham (Sunday 24 October) and Everton (Sunday 7 November), a trio of teams all currently in the top eight of the Premier League.
For Tottenham, and for Nuno in particular, it will be about proving the club are above the bracket featuring Villa, West Ham and Everton – not with them, and certainly not below them. If the latter proves to be the case, it could well be obrigado e tchau to Nuno – before the search starts all over again.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3olkfv4
Post a Comment