Analyzing Nuno Espirito Santo’s playing style to uncover reasons for his success with Wolves which has seen him being linked with the Arsenal job. (1/n)

Nuno spent most of his career as a backup goalkeeper and was part of Jose Mourinho’s 2004 CL winning team at Porto. He was hugely impressed by Jose’s ability to motivate players and inculcated the same in him. (2/n)

After retiring from football in 2010, he joined Jesualdo Ferreira’s backroom staff and followed him to Malaga and Panathinaikos. Nuno’s present day coaching style was molded during this time. (3/n)

Nuno is an ardent believer of uncomplicated football styles and sticking to basics. He uses triangle connections while playing out from the back and passing the ball in midfield. (4/n)

His Rio Ave team was largely described as a counter attacking team dependent on the pace of its wingers. (5/n)

At Valencia Nuno’s most used formations were 4-2-3-1, and 4-3-3. He realized that his counter attack style of football played at Rio Ave wouldn’t be successful at Valencia and made necessary changes. (6/n)

His biggest win as Valencia manager was a 2-1 win over Real Madrid playing in a 3-5-2 formation. He also guided Valencia to a top four finish in La Liga before moving to Porto. (7/n)

At Porto, he didn’t find much success with his 3 at the back formation. Fans called him out for playing boring football as the team played too many draws. (8/n)

He was forced to switch to a 4-4-2. For the first time he paired two strikers together and played Soares and Andre Silva together. This would lay down the marker for his attacking style when he would join Wolves in 2017. (9/n)

In the Championship, Wolves largely deployed a 3-4-2-1 with a midfield pairing of Neves and Saiss. Following their promotion to the Premier League, Nuno signed Moutinho and added him to the midfield. (10/n)

However, the original midfield pairing of Neves and Moutinho didn’t seem to find much success as Wolves found themselves frequently outnumbered in midfield. This prompted Nuno to sign Dendoncker on loan with an obligation to buy. (11/n)

The signing of Dendoncker proved to be a turning point for Wolves in the 2017-18 season. He is physically built, strong and described as ‘someone who never runs out of stamina’. (12/n)

Dendoncker who had played his entire career at centre back was moved to a defensive midfield role by Nuno. Dendoncker now played as the deepest lying defensive midfielder and was tasked with winning the ball back and overturning possession. (13/n)

In 2017-18, Dendoncker was used as a half back by Nuno in the Wolves system. He slotted in defense and converted the formation to a back 6 for defending against stronger teams. Dendoncker made the 2017-18 Wolves system click and is an important part of Nuno’s Wolves side (14/n)

Nuno has also used Dendoncker as a defender in recent times due to injury issues to other players. Surprisingly Wolves have a very small squad when compared to other teams who are playing at the European level. (15/n)

During the 2017-18 season Dendoncker hardly crossed the midfield line. His average playing position was deep inside his own half. This allowed the two other midfielders to swap among them and push ahead when needed. (16/n)

If Nuno gets the Arsenal job then it should be music to the ears of Calum Chambers. Dendoncker and Chambers have a similar physique and Chambers is also primarily a centre back. (17/n)

Not to forget that Claudio Ranieri used Chambers as a defensive midfielder in the 2018-2019 season when he was on loan at Fulham. Chambers was adjudged Fulham’s Player of the Season after excelling in the role of a defensive midfielder. (18/n)

An important observation about Wolves is the height of their players. Most are either 6’0 or above besides few exceptions such as Moutinho and Jota. It is hard to tell whether this is a club policy at Wolves or personal preference of Nuno to sign physical players. (19/n)

A midfield trio of Chambers, Torreira/Guendouzi/Xhaka and Willock/Ceballos seems the most probable scenario if Nuno brings his 3-5-2 to Arsenal. It is hard to see Ozil fit in Nuno’s system at any position. A front two of Aubameyang and Lacazette would be his first choice. (20/n)

Occasionally he could play Pepe and Lacazaette together or Aubameyang and Pepe together. But it is hard to see how all three attackers would get in the same playing eleven under Nuno. (21/n)

The only way to accommodate Aubameyang, Pepe and Lacazette with three centre backs is to play a two man midfield. If you remember I pointed out above that Dendoncker was signed because Wolves were being outnumbered and outmuscled at the start of the 2017-18 season. (22/n)

It is hard to see why Nuno would risk playing a two man midfield at Arsenal to accommodate an extra attacker and risk being outplayed in midfield. Arsenal players are also less physical in nature compared to their Wolves counterparts. (23/n)

Jimenez and Jota were Nuno’s preferred attacking pair until Adama Traore was signed this year. Despite having three first choice attackers Nuno has stuck to only using two of them. (24/n)

On rare occasions when he used all three it was due to fitness and injury issues to other players. (25/n)

Under Nuno, Wolves defend in a compact 5-3-2 and build up in a 3-3-4. Triangular passing which Nuno learnt under Ferreira is a key component here. (26/n)

Nuno is a critic of fruitless possession. If his team has the ball he wants them to make it count. Nuno is not a great fan of his strikers shooting the ball at every sight of goal. He expects them to find a way inside the box and convert shots to goals. (27/n)

Wolves play plenty of long balls, and send crosses in the opposition box trying to find a target man. This philosophy would have worked if Giroud was still an Arsenal striker because Lacazette and Aubameyang are not known for their heading skills. (28/n)

In the current 2019-2020 Premier League season Wolves have already played 7 draws in 13 games. The season could end up as a mirror image of his time at Porto where he was criticised for too many draws. (29/n)

One similarity between Nuno and Arsenal is scouting policy. Nuno prides himself in scouting raw talents and converting them to world class players. The signings of Guendouzi, Martinelli and Saliba along with the first team promotion of youth players signal a similar intent (30/n)

In a nutshell, Nuno’s strategy at Wolves doesn’t seem exciting enough for being replicated at Arsenal in its current form. However, he has shown that he can adopt and shift to a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 in the past. (31/n)

The expectations of attacking football and trophies that come with the Arsenal job might be too much for Nuno Santo to deliver using his current system. (n/n)