The latest manager to be linked with the vacant manager position at Tottenham Hotspur is former Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo.
The former Valencia manager left Wolves at the end of the 2020/21 campaign following four years in charge, with the 47-year-old leading the Wanderers from a mid-table Championship side to an established Premier League outfit.
With Spurs deciding against the likes of Gennaro Gattuso and Paulo Fonseca , football.london understands that the club’s new managing director of football Fabio Paratici is an admirer of Nuno and it cannot be ruled out that he could become one of the candidates for the Spurs job.
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With the links to Nuno intensifying, how would Spurs get on next season with him in charge? And, what type of manager is he?
We simulated the 2021/22 season on Football Manager 2021 to see what could happen.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s first season at Spurs predicted
To set up this simulation, we used the Football Manager 2021 editor to arrange for Nuno Espirito Santo to become Spurs manager and then used Football Manager 2021 to run our 2021/22 season simulation.
Football Manager (FM) is the world’s leading football management simulation title. The latest edition of the game, FM21, is out now on PC, Mac, Mobile, Touch and Xbox.
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The Football Manager database currently contains data on more than 800,000 individuals and 45,000 active clubs.
Data is sourced from their international on the ground scouting network which numbers roughly 1,000 people, among their ranks are some who are involved in football in professional capacities, including scouts and coaches.
This is what Nuno Espirito Santo’s manager profile looks like on Football Manager 2021 as of July 2021, which showcases his tactical style and managerial tendencies.
Before we get into the simulation, Spurs signed just the one new player ahead of the 2021/22 season, with striker Gerard Moreno being signed from Villarreal.
So how did the season play out with Nuno in charge? Let’s take a look.
The Portuguese manager most often used a 4-2-3-1 formation at Spurs, with new signing Gerard Moreno playing from the right, Dele Alli as a number ten, Son Heung-min on the left and Harry Kane as a central striker.
Spurs’ start to the season was ok, with Nuno’s side winning three, drawing one and losing one in their first five matches.
But from November to mid-March, Nuno’s side were hard to beat and had a good run of results.
In the 22 Premier League games between November and mid-March, Spurs only lost twice, winning 12 and drawing eight.
But towards the end of the season, the wins turned into draws and the draws turned into losses, as their conservative approach came back to haunt them.
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Under Nuno, Spurs scored one goal fewer than they did last season, scoring 67 times in 38 matches.
And it was the same story defensively, with Nuno’s side conceding 49 goals in 38 games, four more than last season.
Let’s take a look at Spurs’ best performing players under Nuno.
Kane managed 17 goals in 37 appearances, with Son and Alli both managing ten and Moreno scoring six times.
It’s fair to say that none of the Spurs players had a standout season.
At the end of every season, FM21 work out the best 11 of every team, based on a number of key metrics.
This is how Spurs’ best performing XI, as decided by Football Manager 2021, looked at the end of the 2021/22 season.
Full Spurs best XI: Lloris; Doherty, Alderweireld, Sanchez, Reguilon; Lo Celso, Ndombele; Moreno, Alli, Son; Kane.
New signing Moreno featured on the right side of the attack, with Tanguy Ndombele and Lo Celso playing in midfield.
So, how did Spurs actually perform with Nuno as manager?
This is how the final 2021/22 Premier League table looked in our simulated season.
Nuno’s side could only manage a seventh-place finish, earning 65 points from 38 games, three more than last season.
Spurs may have been more difficult to beat, but they drew far too many games, 11 times in total.
As a result, they only won 18 games in the season, the same amount as they did under Mourinho and Mason last season.
But what about the cups?
Spurs weren’t much better in the cups, going out in the Carabao Cup quarter-final and the FA Cup third round.
And in the UEFA Europa Conference League, Spurs reached the quarter-final but were defeated by AS Roma.
Overall, Nuno’s appointment at Spurs was not a successful one in our simulated season, with the club failing to improve on their league finish by utilising a conservative approach.
Would you be happy to see Nuno Espirito Santo appointed as the new Spurs manager? Let us know in the comments.