Nuno Espirito Santo has been appointed Nottingham Forest’s new manager, replacing Steve Cooper, on a two-and-a-half-year contract.
Here, the PA news agency looks at what we might expect at the City Ground under the former Wolves and Tottenham boss.
Squad issues
With Forest’s bloated squad it will be interesting to see how the new manager handles it and whether he feels the need to trim in January.
PR problems
Watch the entirety of Nuno’s press conference on Wolves TV!
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— Wolves (@Wolves) March 1, 2019
If anyone expects Nuno’s press conferences to lead the headlines they will be mistaken. He did not like doing them at Wolves and was notorious for short answers and quick press conferences.
At Tottenham he held them on Zoom due to Covid regulations but remained cold and detached.
Should things go wrong at Forest, there will be little sympathy in the media.
Gibbs-White reunion
He made 31 appearances in Wolves’ return to the Premier League under Nuno in 2018-19 but then just six in the top flight the following season before undertaking loans at Swansea and Sheffield United.
For Nuno to succeed at Forest he must get the best out of his former midfielder.
White Hart Pain
Club announcement.
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) November 1, 2021
Nuno was a symptom of the problems at Tottenham when he was appointed, rather than being the sole problem himself.
He only joined after a chaotic recruitment process in 2021 which saw Mauricio Pochettino, Antonio Conte, Paulo Fonseca and Gennaro Gattuso all considered ahead of him.
It was little surprise it did not work and he was dumped after just four months, being replaced by Conte.
Stale or successful?
But it ultimately went sour, Nuno went stale and performances became tedious.
Negative football at Tottenham peppered his brief reign and it remains to be seen if he can rediscover his magic touch.
