Nuno Espirito Santo’s Tottenham’s reign has been heavily criticised and maybe unfairly sometimes.
However, the Portuguese boss doesn’t cover himself in glory with some of his decision making and clubs pay managers to get the important decisions right.
He left several of his key players at home for their Europa Conference League match against Vitesse last week as he plotted the downfall of West Ham at the weekend.
However, Spurs ended up losing both matches and former defender, Alan Hutton believes he should have at least had his best players on the bench against Vitesse and they could have won that fixture.
“I covered the Vitesse game and I thought it was a risk to leave the whole starting XI at home,” Hutton told Football Insider.
“If you want to rest players, I understand that, that’s fine but have them on the bench with you. Bring them on to change the game if you need to.
“They were so poor, they were shocking against Vitesse. I was sitting there thinking: ‘Oh my, I can’t believe I have to cover this.’ It was that bad.
“To move on to the West Ham game, you’ve got your starting XI back and they looked flat. It was a flat performance. Harry Kane had hardly any touches, second half not a shot on goal.
“You would expect them to overrun West Ham. They had a game midweek and they played a strong team. Really poor. A risk that did not pay off.”
The Boy Hotspur says
Spurs have a goal of ending this season back in the European places and that probably explains why Nuno Santo prioritised the Premier League match.
However, we are also one of the favourites to win the Conference League and it would be a good way to end our wait for a trophy.
Nuno Santo needs to know these things and his lack of awareness of the situation makes it hard to justify why he remains the manager.
He has now ridiculed himself by losing the game against the Hammers and Hutton is right to question his decision making.
If he keeps getting these decisions wrong, he will be out of the job sooner than he expects and Spurs fans are already growing tired of how his team plays even when they win matches.
It’s not been “just like Spurs to go and win it” since the days of Sir Keith of Burkinshaw!
However I agree, zero interest in the Zenith Data Systems Cup of Eastern Europe & ex Soviet States
I largely agree with you, but that is arguably no different to what Maureen tried & look at the reception he got… ultimately Nuno keeps his job if Spurs finish top 6 not if they finish outside those places & win trophies so it’s only natural the league is priority… I expected West Ham to beat us, but what I found most odd was Nuno bringing on Berghyn in the 89th minute… ridiculous decision.
Ahh the old Shudov Beans …never give your partner a bag of Shudov Beans without checking inside…invariably the bag is full of old b#llocks
It’s a hard to one to rationalise when you consider so many players have been in the wrong place for too long I include being on the Park for a fair few ..he is on hiding to nothing ..at least he doesn’t have tonwear bells round his ankles and bells round his wrists like the next bloke.
Alan looks like he has been wheeled out to the Rehab garden to pass comment..he is of course correct, any room for me Alan Al Al.
To blame any Spurs manager let alone Nuno will be unjust, Mr Nuno is the wrong man in the wrong place, nobody can blame him for wanting to earn a living. someone brought him to be a shield and scapegoat and Mr Nuno knows that he is fine with that as long as he is employed and getting payed everyone would have done that he is just waiting when they will show him the door the rest is irrelevant.
What Nuno did was necessary. It was a way of giving players like Winks, Dele, Lo Celso and others a platform to demonstrate why they should be in the first 11. Nuno showed the supporters that these players lack many of the qualities needed to seriously push for a place in his first choice starting 11.
Lo Celso in particular was a passenger in the first half. He had clearly been dug out at half time because he did more in the first ten minutes of the second half than he had managed in all his last half a dozen appearances put together.
Dele was poor and Winks was out thought, out fought and out classed by the Dutch midfield players.
I have sympathy for Rodon and the young players but not many of the other established players. Davinson Sanchez and Davies in particular need to have a look at themselves. Time is up for these guys and Nuno effectively shone a light on them by his team selection and not allowing the comfort blanket of having Son, Kane and Hojbjerg to come on and baby sit these jokers to a win bonus.
Nuno has showed strength to do this. He has called them out early and these players have hung themselves out to dry. Not good enough to compete with Vitesse. Winks little hissy fit during his press conference was an insight into how these guys think. Wink’s believes the top players should have been there to wipe his backside and this attitude showed us all why he is not fit to play for Spurs and never has been.
Nuno did the right thing. A second string Spurs should be good enough to beat a 2nd rate Dutch team. What if he had brought Son or Kane off the bench only for some Dutch farmer to leave one on them. This is a pig of a competition that I have ZERO interest in but it would be just like Spurs to go and win it and ENIC dress it up like they’ve won the Champions League.