Time for Tottenham fans to back, not call for sack of Santo Espirito Santo
By Aaron Coe
Whether you agree with the hiring or his choices since, just five matches into his tenure, Tottenham fans need to back, not call for the sack of Nuno Espirito Santo.
Maybe the short summer with lots of players missing when new coach Nuno Espirito Santo walked into Tottenham Hotspur was more foreboding than anyone knew. Short timelines and absent players have continued to be the theme of the early part of Santo’s tenure with Spurs. Despite some recent setbacks and given the situation, fans need to be a little patient and should start backing Santo instead of calling for his sacking.
The situation at Tottenham was not great
Even if three players were not completely unavailable for two weeks and Heung-Min Son does not get injured, the summer at Tottenham was not great. The much-needed 3-0 start under NES put a quick mask over what was a messy summer, an incomplete rebuild, and a paper-thin team.
Neither the coach nor the football director came on board until more than a month into the summer transfer window and the vast majority of the first team was unavailable due to summer international commitments.
All this is even before we get into the drama that was the Sky Sports Summer sale of Harry Kane.
The reality is the situation at Tottenham was not exactly stable before games started in earnest this season. Of course, since the season has started another set of international games threw the team into complete disarray with six players not being available after the break.
Five of those six players, Heung-Min Son, Cristian Romero, Giovani Lo Celso, Davinson Sanchez, and Ryan Sessegnon may still not be available on Sunday.
While none of these contextual factors excuse the timid set-up and lack of response against Crystal Palace, it does help explain that not everything at the moment is Nuno’s fault. Even if you believe NES is not the answer, there were/are a few signs of life with this team that say given the man a chance.