LONDON (REUTERS) - Tottenham yesterday sacked manager Nuno Espirito Santo after a 3-0 English Premier League home loss to Manchester United over the weekend.
Spurs' fifth top-flight defeat of the season left the north London side eighth in the table, forcing chairman Daniel Levy to pull the plug on Nuno's short-lived tenure, with the Portuguese signing a two-year deal in the summer after leaving Wolverhampton Wanderers.
"I know how much Nuno and his coaching staff wanted to succeed and I regret that we have had to take this decision," Spurs' managing director of football Fabio Paratici said in a statement, which confirmed his support team had also been fired.
"Nuno is a true gentleman and will always be welcome here. We should like to thank him and his coaching staff and wish them well for the future."
The 47-year-old is the third Premier League manager to lose his job since the start of the season after Watford sacked Xisco Munoz while Newcastle parted ways with Steve Bruce following the Saudi Arabia-led takeover.
Nuno had a bright start at Spurs, earning three league wins in a row to go top of the table, their best start to a league season, including beating champions Manchester City on the opening day, and winning the Manager of the Month award in August. But his honeymoon ended as quickly as it started after defeats in four London derbies by Crystal Palace, Chelsea, Arsenal and West Ham.
The 3-0 loss to United, leaving the team 10 points behind leaders Chelsea, that featured not a single shot on target had Spurs fans booing Nuno and chanting: "You don't know what you're doing."
He had been unable to implement an attacking philosophy at Tottenham, the very reason Levy had sacked Jose Mourinho in a bid to find someone who could help them play "free-flowing, attacking and entertaining" football. Spurs scored only nine goals in 10 league games - their worst tally since 2013-14 - and the club have the worst goal difference (-7), on level with Leeds, this season after the bottom-two clubs Norwich and Newcastle.
Nuno also struggled to get the best out of star striker Harry Kane, who had failed to negotiate a move away from the club during the close season. The England captain, last season's winner of the Golden Boot with 23 goals, has scored only once in nine league appearances this season and has looked out of sorts.
Spurs, Champions League finalists in 2019, have also struggled in the Europa Conference League - Uefa's new third-tier competition.
They sit third in their group, behind Rennes and Vitesse, with only one win from three games ahead of their next fixture against Vitesse on Thursday.
With Spurs no closer to ending their two-year exile from the Champions League and the fans making it clear they did not want Nuno, who was way down the list of potential managerial candidates and only landed the job because others turned down the position, the club had to act.
British media, including The Guardian as well as The Athletic have linked former Chelsea and Inter Milan boss Antonio Conte to the vacant hot seat. The Italian reportedly rejected Spurs in the summer but according to football insider Fabrizio Romano, Conte is "now more than tempted to accept the job". He also tweeted Conte is expected in London soon to complete talks on final details, and is also eager to work with Paratici and rekindle their Juventus relationship.
The bookmakers have also listed the 52-year-old as the favourite to take over, with Porto boss Sergio Conceicao and former Roma coach Paulo Fonseca are reported to be in the running should negotiations break down again.
