Nuno Espirito Santo tactics: What 49-year-old would bring to Leeds if he replaces Marsch

Follow us on Google Discover

Nuno Espirito Santo tactics has become a trending topic after the 49-year-old emerged as a candidate to replace Jesse Marsch at Leeds.

According to the Daily Mirror, the Portuguese tactician is among the options to replace the American at Elland Road.

Marsch was sacked following Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest, although the mood around Leeds brightened as Michael Skubala oversaw a 2-2 draw against Manchester United on Wednesday evening.

So, what can Leeds fans expect if Nuno does take over? Let’s have a look…

Nuno Espirito Santo tactics

Well, Nuno typically adopted a 3-4-3 formation during his time in the Premier League with Wolves and Tottenham.

His ideology could also interchange to a 3-5-2 system during games.

Nuno’s preferred tactics involve pushing the two full-backs very high up the pitch, basically acting as wingers.

It was an approach which saw the likes of Matt Doherty enjoy success at Wolves, scoring 19 goals while also providing 20 assists under the Portuguese coach, so someone like Luke Ayling could have a great time in this system.

Crucially, Nuno needs one of his three central defenders to have an excellent range of passing, so he may be attracted to the likes of Pascal Struijk or Max Wöber.

At Wolves, Nuno had Conor Coady to seamlessly switch the play and get the attacking full-backs running towards goal, while Nicolas Otamendi fulfilled that role at Valencia.

His midfield is usually quite compact, with Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho often sitting as holding midfielders during his successful time at Wolves, who he guided to the UEFA Europa League quarter-final in 2020.

Due to Nuno’s full-back options standing high and wide, the three forwards in his preferred 3-4-3 are able to stay quite compact and play off each other, in similar fashion to how we saw Wilfried Gnonto feed off Patrick Bamford to score at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

One particular strike from Diogo Jota in a win over Cardiff back in 2019 is a prime example of that attacking interplay, as you can see above.

It would be a vastly different approach to the high pressing style Leeds fans fell in love with under Marcelo Bielsa, but Nuno would seemingly have the players to carry out his methods if he does end up at Elland Road.