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Nuno Espírito Santo Tactical Analysis (or anyone else who becomes fav)

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HuddersfieldToffee

HuddersfieldToffee

Player Valuation: £10m
Hi All,

Since it looks like we'll be getting the former Rio Ave, Valencia, Porto and Wolves Manager and Goalkeeper (always respect a goalie manager) as our next main man at Goodison, I thought I'd provide a little bit of background on what to expect when you're expecting Nuno.

Career Overview

Nuno was an accomplished, but not spectacular man between the sticks during his career, appearing in the Portugal Euro 2008 squad without making an appearance. He entered management as Assistant & Goalkeeping Coach to Jesualdo Ferreira, current Boavista boss.

He moved on from the Assistant job to Rio Ave, where he led his side to a double cup-final appearance and the Europa League for the first time. His performance here, and his relationship with agent Jorge Mendes, saw him move to Valencia, where the aforementioned agent had significant influence on Valencia owner, Peter Lim. His appointment raised eyebrows, but after 7 games in his opening season at the club, Los murciélagos were undefeated at the top of the table. Here, he was faced with the youngest starting XI of any team in La Liga, and a difficult dressing room, which he turned around quickly to produce football that stifled the creativity of teams they faced, as Football Espana reported;

Having arrived at a club with a broken dressing room, Nuno knew he had to start from scratch. Within his capable hands stood the futures of the youngest starting XI in Spain’s top flight. It was up to him to create a harmonious atmosphere where he could mould their minds and instil the discipline necessary to facilitate his style of play.

Once he united a divided dressing room, Nuno set about constructing a side that adapts to the strengths of its players and to the opponent. That meant highly intense and exhaustive workouts. His players may never be the best but they will be extremely fit, ones capable of playing a rough game as well as one that highlights their technique.

In order to cope, he spoke to them of nutrition, explaining that unless they ran incessantly and played with intensity, they would never realise their collective dream.

Brilliance would arrive so long as they took it step by step and his next task was to ensure a sturdy back-line, one that would safeguard their points. Once that was achieved, the attacking patterns of play were worked upon, with the team growing together as they came to understand each other’s movements on the pitch.
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Highlights for Nuno included his two games in the 2014/15 season against Real Madrid, where he achieved a 2-1 win and a 2-2 draw in games against Los Blancos. Alas, like most managers who arrive in Peter Lim's Valencia, his time at the club would be fleeting and after a poor start to his second season, he left the club. From here, he would move to Porto where a second placed finish wasn't enough to save his job after one season. From here, linking up with the shadow of Jorge Mendes again, he would arrive at Wolves.

The Wolves job in the Championship was a bit of a sticky one; the quality of the squad was significantly higher than anyone else in the division and they were expected to return to the Premier League on the back of a number of Portuguese players such as Joao Moutinho, Ruben Neves and the Angolan Helder Costa. In his first season he achieved promotion at a canter, before delivering two 7th places finish in 2018/19 and 2019/20, and a 13th place finish this term. He's also been linked with Tottenham and Crystal Palace in the managerial merry-go-round, so he's not been short of admirers.
 
Tactics

Nuno values the 'level of play' principle higher than tactics, and values certain actions higher than a particular style of play, and subsequently has varied his tactics considerably over his time as a coach. At Valencia, he primarily used a 4-4-2 featuring Javi Fuego as a half-back, dropping between the centre-backs, two creative, speedy wingers on the flanks in Piatti and Feghouli, Rodrigo playing as a roaming link player alongside Paco Alcacer, and creative hub Andre Gomes taking up a free role (this could give us a clue as to his thinking should he take the Everton job) roaming in the middle of the park. Early on in the season, he favoured a switch between a 4-2-3-1 style formation, with Dani Parejo operating as a link player between Gomes and Fuego, and Rodrigo pushed wide, but later moved to the 4-4-2 after Parejo was ruled out due to injury. See spielverlagerung.de's assessment of his first season in charge.

valencia2014.png
valencia2014-ohneparejo.png


But the main trademarks of his tactics would be his style of play, rather than a particular formation. Outside of the Boot notes the main features of the attacking side of his team's play are; crossing (many of his sides have featured excellent crossing full-backs and wing-backs, such as Matt Doherty, Jose Gaya, Jonny and wingers who excel at crossing, such as Daniel Podence and Adama Traore), combination play (using quick combinations to unlock defences, shown by the number of positive ball-players in his midfield like Neves and Moutinho), and counter-attack (using the speed of fast wingers such as the aforementioned Traore but also accurate balls in behind from Neves), and the defensive side featuring strong closing down in the opening phases of opposition attacks (both in and after the period of a counter-press) but a strong passive shape that forces opponents out wide. The latter was more identifiable in his Wolves side, who were more passive and less aggressive in their press than his Valencia and Porto sides.

All in all, despite having large spells of passivity, especially against more dominant possession sides, Nuno's style of play is positive and encompasses a large number of attacking players, and brave position (especially of the wing-backs in his systems that utilise the three-man defence) and he stresses his teams' attacking credentials, especially around recovering the ball. “The midfielders always pressure, I want the team to always attack" Nuno said during his time as Valencia boss.
 
It was in his time at Valencia that he first began to use the three-man defence that he is famous (and often typecast by) for in England. He utilised the formation most significantly in a 2-1 win against Real Madrid in his opening season, where he used Mustafi and Otamendi alongside Lucas Orban in the defence and went three-on-three against the Real Madrid front line of Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema. This bravery in his selection, alongside the balancing influence of Enzo Perez at the base of the midfield, meant that Valencia could chase after the ball and go four on four against the Madrid backline.

He had employed the 3-5-2 for the first time just before the winter break that season, against Eibar, and saw a decent performance in a well-earned 1-0 victory. They decided to bravely place their wing-backs very high, and forced an incredibly physical game in which Valencia gave away a rake of fouls, but took advantage of a lack of physicality ahead of the Madrid backline. The physicality and on-the-edge play nearly cost them (it was certainly the reason for the play that led to Ronaldo's penalty to open the scoring), but it typified a brave tactical approach and the correct approach to hurt this lightweight Madrid side. Despite being 1-0 down at the break, he held his approach as it was certainly working.



The 3-5-2 formation was a product of three things; a desire to get up close and physical with Real (ooh Matron), the arrival of Enzo Perez as an intelligent holding player (although recently he's been more of a goalkeeper himself) who could play at the base of a 3-5-2 and the ability the formation gave to free Andre Gomes (a more general hallmark of NES's Valencia) and allow him to start the press and dictate the terms of play by causing problems for Toni Kroos at the base of midfield. As Michael Cox noted in his conclusion of the game;

A key player was Andre Gomes, who acted as the most advanced midfielder. Without the ball he started the midfield pressure, and at turnovers he made clever runs, sliding past Kroos and into pockets of space between the lines. It meant Valencia’s other midfielders could play an obvious forward pass into a dangerous position, which contrasted with Real’s inability to penetrate Valencia’s midfield. Gomes came close to scoring twice with drives from the edge of the box, where Real were conceding more space than they would have liked. This was the first time for months that Kroos hasn’t been able to command that zone.
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View attachment 129989
Valencia line-up against Real Madrid, Photo from Zonal Marking (via WebArchive)

Nuno said after the game "This [3-5-2] system can give us much in an attacking sense because we can play with two strikers, but we must still work on the variety of systems we use.” This is the most striking point of Nuno, however, variety in systems but consistent trademarks in the pattern of play. At Porto, he regularly rotated formations but insisted on central control, preferring a 4-1-2-1-2 (which often looked like a 4-3-3), a narrow 4-3-3 and a 4-2-3-1 in his time.

A downside that seems to come from his approach, however, is a lack of ability to breakdown sides with large spells of possession, and an overreliance on wingers (an area he will have to rebuild if he is to be Everton boss). In the last year at Wolves, he has attempted to breakdown the 3-4-3/3-5-2 reliance the side had and bring more attacking players into play by reverting to a back-four, playing such a system 14 times, but only winning four of these matches. Similarly at Valencia, the lack of creativity outside of plays involving the wingbacks and the rigidity of the roles in the middle-three in the 3-5-2 (Perez destroyer, Parejo link player and Gomes as creator) sometimes meant their play could be predictable against teams sitting deep, something Wolves fans would be familiar with.
 
What does an NES Everton look like?

Before looking at a whole XI, it's important to note that literally the only thing I've stressed so far about the way Nuno plays is despite his time at Wolves, where he was incredibly consistent with elements of his formation (he would oscillate between 3-5-2 and 3-4-3, with the occasional 3-5-1-1 with a player playing in behind Raul Jimenez, usually a speedly player like Adama Traore or Pedro Neto but always played a back three), it's easy to see the kind of players that Nuno would like in our side and also what kind of players he's utilised before.

If we begin from the back, it's hard to see him replacing Jordan Pickford as Number 1 and it's incredibly unlikely he'll be moved on but it's likely NES will find a back-up goalkeeper to add to the squad. At the back, there are interesting options whether you want to look at a back-three or back-four: Mason Holgate, Jarrad Branthwaite and Ben Godfrey are all accomplished ball-player defenders (Branthwaite is slightly significantly less experienced however) and Keane and Mine, the other two centre-backs in the side, represent good aerial defence and solid defensive organisation in the middle of the pitch. Godfrey has recently been played at left-back in Gareth Southgate's England team and Holgate can play on the right, so both offer mobility and physicality in the defence, which is useful for an aggressive approach to ball-recoveries (which Nuno likes).

Digne is a certain starter, however, in a three and four man defence, and his crossing ability will mean he is sure to be a winner if NES is appointed. On the right, question marks about Seamus Coleman's ongoing ability to play at the highest level will be concerning, but links to Denzel Dumfries, Max Aarons from Norwich and Zeki Celik from Lille (fresh from winning the Ligue 1 title) show that Marcel Brands is considering the area a high priority for rejuvenation this year. If not, Jonjoe Kenny is an adequate replacement and better than his recent spell at Celtic suggests. The personnel as they stand hint that Nuno might have to consider a back-five as his starting defensive base.

In Midfield, it's clear that Nuno rates Andre Gomes, but his mobility has declined since his injury, and he may want to replicate the role of Joao Moutihno or Ruben Neves in a deeper position, hitting balls over the top and hitting diagonals to the onrushing wing-backs. In terms of links, it's hard to get past Marcel Brands who indicated he wanted to make a move for Ryan Gravenberch, with the Ajax midfield to set out his stall at the European Championships with Holland this summer, he would offer height and extreme craft in passing to the midfield of the side.

It's hard to see what Nuno wouldn't love about Allan, and given his predisposition for intelligent defensive midfielders, it's easy to make the case for him and for Jean-Phillipe Gbamin, who are both known for their ball recoveries and defensive positioning, to make a claim to the role fulfilled in his Wolves team currently by Leo Dendoncker, as an energetic forward-pressing midfield in a midfield two or to play as a calming defensive midfielder at the base of a midfield three and also easy to see a case for Tom Davies, whose energy will be admired by NES.

It's harder to see a role, however, for Gylfi Sigurdsson, as Nuno prefers his playmakers to have more energy than the languid Icelander, despite his excellent dead-ball ability and goal-threat. Especially should Gravenberch be signed, who offers similar passing ability but with greater height, it's unlikely there is a role for Gylfi unless he adapts to playing deeper in the midfield, to possibly replicate Dani Parejo's role for Nuno's Valencia side, however that role can equally be done by the lung-busting Abdoulaye Doucouré.

Up front, it's hard to see past a front two of Richarlison and DCL, pending both of them staying at Goodison Park, but more difficult to see roles for many of the bit-part attackers of 2021. Nuno likes to have pace in his side and it remains to be seen whether Richarlison will play through the middle or off the dual-threat speedy and tall DCL in a narrow front three, and much depends on the signings. The club have been linked with Adama Traore, who can fill in at RWB and RW, and Robert Skov, who can similarly back-up at a number of positions besides striker, so it might be something to look out for in our signings: replacing the rigidity of the players signed under Carlo to the fluidity of the signings of NES. Equally, Moise Kean (should he remain) might offer a good option up front and allow a bit more control and physicality against two man back-lines.

If I was to pick a before and after transfer window Everton line-up under NES, however, I would pick suggest something like these selections;

Now
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Maybe with a good transfer window
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Conclusion

Nuno is an excellent man-manager and creates coherent, well-drilled sides. His football can be exception, and can be exhilarating to watch, especially on the counter attack and with the high-press - but this has to suit the game plan and tactics needed to get the result. Appointing NES would be a good move in the face of succeeding Carlo, as he is rigid and regimented and good at building team spirit, which will be vital in the coming months, especially with a severed pre-season. Expect boring early on, possibly for some time but a solid style of play that is committed to intensity.

TL;DR: He's ite.

If anyone else becomes the front runner, I'm happy to do something similar for Mr Gallardo, Mr Howe, Mr Galtier, Mr Potter etc etc. Hope this is of use to some people.
 



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