by 
A throwback recalls the day when Nuno wasn’t really Nuno. Or not the Nuno Espirito Santo, many thought they knew that anyway. The Portuguese travels to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday with his Nottingham Forest side tied on points with Arsenal. Three years ago, on his last visit there, his Tottenham team started ahead of their neighbors in the table. At the end of the north London derby, it was tempting to think there was no way back for Nuno.
His team lost 3-0 in 34 minutes. He admitted he was wrong in his game plan. A 4-3-3 formation featured Dele Alli and Tanguy Ndombele as the No.8, leaving a hole in the heart of the midfield. A prudent strategist has failed when he has tried to be cavalier. It was as if Nuno, aware of Tottenham’s attacking traditions, was trying to be something he was not. Wolves’ best manager of the last half-century enjoyed one of the shortest reigns in Spurs history.
Nuno returns to Arsenal after showing he can adapt, but according to the same principles. When he took the Spurs job — around seventh pick, after a 72-day search — there were questions about whether he was stuck in a tactical straitjacket. His Wolves team played 3-4-3; very successfully with a promotion of 99 points and two seventh places, but this gave way to beard boredom. In his final season at Molineux, Wolves averaged less than a goal per game. Factor in Nuno’s bland public statements and he’s earned a reputation as an idiot. That didn’t help him much at Spurs.
Fast forward three years and a personal renewal is based on much of his Wolves formula. Forest are the worst scorers in the top seven, and only one team in the top 12 has fewer goals. They also have the second best defensive record, behind Liverpool: a former goalkeeper’s ability to break through a defense remains an attribute. Nuno has adopted an approach that makes him an anomaly at the top of the table: Forest have the third lowest share of possession this season. Wolves twice finished seventh with less than 50 percent of the ball. Nuno prefers to keep players behind the ball and then counter-attack at pace, rather than pressing high and controlling the game.
And yet, the training has distinct differences. From the West Midlands to the East Midlands, there have been common denominators: two powerful centre-backs, flanked by full-backs capable of getting forward, two central midfielders who rarely got ahead of the ball, two speedy wingers and a powerful target man in attack. . The 10th outfielder was his captain: but Conor Coady was Wolves’ third centre-back, Morgan Gibbs-White the no 10 at Forest. The 3-4-3 therefore became 4-2-3-1.
Coady was a different defender, a converted midfielder who scored very little on defensive metrics such as headers and tackles (although if there had been any to speak of he might have led the division). Gibbs-White was at Wolves at the same time and marginalized – he made just 10 starts in three Premier League seasons – which added intrigue when Nuno took over a Forest team whose best player was his former replacement.
And while that reflected Gibbs-White’s youth at the time, it also underlined the way the Wolves team was formed around Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho, the twin passers. Forest may have a more professional feel at the base of midfield, looking more to the No.10 for creativity. At times, due to injury or the suspension of Gibbs-White, Elliot Anderson has instead been the number 10, but Nuno has shown an adaptability that he previously seemed to lack, finding a solution that did not involve the 3-4-3.
Chris Wood’s surprise rise in the Golden Boot race suggests Nuno may still have some way to go with big strikers: arguably Raul Jimenez was the country’s best all-round No.9 in the 2019-20 season. While Wolves’ fortunes plunged after suffering a fractured skull, the rest of the attacking plan was idiosyncratic: Adama Traore could outrun defenders at a rapid pace but rarely scored, making Diogo Jota’s goals more important; each did what the other could not do. Forest have more conventional wingers, in Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi.
But that speed on the break gives them a similar penchant for killing giants. They retain the distinction of being the only team to beat Liverpool this season while, in their first two seasons after promotion, Nuno’s Wolves have beaten each of the so-called big six. Perhaps his game plan wasn’t dominant enough against lesser teams to take them above seventh place: Forest, however, haven’t finished top 15 in the top flight since 1996 , so anything that high would be welcome.
And while their season, marked by the bans of Nuno, Gibbs-White and owner Evangelos Marinakis, may seem tarnished by the club’s feeling that everyone is out to get them, it has nevertheless been marked by an impressive managerial renaissance . Nuno was manager of the month for October; his fifth award, putting him behind only 11 managers in Premier League history and, remarkably, ahead of José Mourinho as the most decorated Portuguese manager in that particular category.
As a more famous Portuguese manager, Ruben Amorim, prepares to make his debut in the division, perhaps the coaching comeback of the season has come from his compatriot. Nuno kept Forest going last season, but there are now hints he could return to the levels he achieved at Wolves. And he did it while being both different and similar.
