Deportivo, Dynamo Moscow, FC Porto – Nuno Espírito Santos’s playing career was long
and full of renown clubs, but his playtime was limited.
The São Tomé and Príncipe-born goalkeeper spent pretty much his entire career as a back-up,
an experience that helped shape the way he now views the game as a manager.
At forty-four years old, the coach just took Wolves to the Premier League: a challenge
that will be part of only his sixth season as a manager.
But, despite the short managerial career, he’s already accomplished plenty, taking
advantage of everything he learned from those who he worked with.
Having lifted a Champions League trophy under José Mourinho, he is still inspired by the
pure belief incited by the Special One upon his players.
While, from a tactical perspective, Professor Jesualdo Ferreira was his mentor.
The experienced manager had Nuno as part of his technical staff at Malaga and Panathinaikos,
and the latter often mentions Ferreira’s importance in his path.
“With him I understood that isn’t about the relationship between 11 players but about
triangle connections, both in defence and attack.
Everything in the game is based on triangles, how positionally balanced they are”
His close relationship with agent Jorge Mendes – Nuno being his first client back in 1996
– has perhaps given him a chance to take some opportunities other wouldn’t have gotten
a chance to have.
But his ability to adapt to different scenarios is what has helped rise to the challenge everywhere
he has been.
Instead of being married to a certain playstyle or formation, Espirito Santo’s kept general
principles throughout while adapting and improving his approach to the players he’s had available.
At Rio Ave, he lead the club to its first Europa League campaign followed by two cup
finals in the following season, through a counter-attacking style that benefited their
pacy wingers and took advantage of Jan Oblak’s talent in goal.
His move to Valencia not only shocked many, but also forced him to adopt a more dominant
approach.
Not even that stopped him from experimenting with different formations, though.
Lining up in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 for the most part, he also used a 3-5-2 at times – memorably
in a 2-1 home win against Real Madrid.
Against teams such as Real Madrid, they could disrupt opposition play using a man-marking
scheme and still take advantage of space to counter attack quickly as his previous team
did did.
But Valencia showcased themselves in control of most matches.
Very outspoken on his thoughts against fruitless possession in football, Nuno had to make sure
his team was just about as intense and penetrative as they can on the ball.
That happened mostly through wide play, with offensive full-backs Gaya and Barragan – and
their combinations with the wingers – key in chance creation during the manager’s
time in Spain.
Their midfield functioned mainly to recycle the ball back to wide areas, with the deepest
one dropping between the centre-backs to aid circulation.
After finishing fourth in La Liga in 2014/15 his contract was terminated after a rocky
start to the following campaign.
Taking over FC Porto for the 2016/17 season meant an even higher demand for a system that
would break down deep blocks, as the big teams in Portugal are forced to do week-in and week-out.
He started with a single forward possession scheme that ended up leading to a few draws
too many, despite consistently creating a high volume of chances.
So, come January, a slightly more direct 4-4-2 approach was used with focus on the partnership
between André Silva and Soares.
The team became perhaps less appealing to watch, with a higher tendency to go long with
their passes but was more dangerous from crosses than any other side in the league.
At Wolves, the manager has reconnected with his intense, quick passing football.
The renown Wolves 3-4-3 hasn’t really been used before by Nuno, but we see the replication
of a lot of previous ideas in this renovated scheme.
The deep midfielder that used to drop between the Valencia centre-backs is now an actual
defender but serves the same purpose on the ball.
The striker being an outlet for longer passes through his hold-up play was seen at Porto.
Full-backs being a key part of the offensive process made him invest even more and turn
them into wing-backs.
His midfielders always had a more controlling roles, not offering perhaps enough penetration
in the final third, so he now he plays only two of them and lets them sit even deeper
– making the team hard to break down centrally and giving more freedom to the inside forwards
in possession.
Receptive to new ideas and constantly evolving his style, Nuno will be one to watch in the
top tier of English Football, as the man in charge of a Wolves project whose ceiling is
still undiscovered.