There is no need to attempt to rewrite history by arguing that Tottenham Hotspur failed to see what they had in Nuno Espírito Santo. All that matters now is that this meticulous, softly spoken manager is the perfect fit for Nottingham Forest. They have provided Nuno with the perfect platform for his counterpunching tactics and, in what would surely be the story of the Premier League season, are closing in on Champions League football after cruising to victory over Ange Postecoglou’s limp and uninterested Spurs side.
This was cool, clinical and resilient from Forest as they bounced back from two successive defeats by rising into third place with five games left. Nerves, it seems, are not for them. They struck early through Elliot Anderson and Chris Wood, who punished diffident defending, and then leant on their defensive prowess to claim the points. Spurs, stuck in 16th after falling to their 18th defeat in 33 games, were beaten inside 16 minutes, a header from Richarlison coming too late to save them.
Although there was concern about Forest having to tweak their back four because of Ola Aina’s absence, with Harry Toffolo coming in for his first league start of the season at left-back, there was little sign of expectation weighing them down during a blistering start.
The home fans must have wondered if the team in red could possibly have been coached by the same man who was deemed too negative before being sacked after five unhappy months in charge here in 2021. Forest, who made three changes after their defeat by Everton, had no intention of waiting to see how the game panned out. Nuno had them geared to play on the front foot, even if the omission of Callum Hudson-Odoi had suggested a more measured approach before kick-off, and it was not long before they exposed frailties within Postecoglou’s set-up.
Spurs were not in the zone despite Postecoglou making five changes to the side that saw off Eintracht Frankfurt. They seemed startled by Forest’s intensity and did not even wake up after seeing Morgan Gibbs-White test Guglielmo Vicario with a stinging drive in the fourth minute.
Forest went ahead from the resulting corner. Anthony Elanga’s delivery was disappointing but Pedro Porro’s clearance was worse, exposing a lack of organisation. There was no pressure on Anderson when the ball fell to him on the edge of the area, leaving the midfielder free to drive through a shot that flicked off Rodrigo Bentancur and beat Vicario for power.
The venom of Anderson’s strike shook Spurs, who looked flimsy next to such conviction. This is why Postecoglou’s position is so vulnerable. He had chosen not to rest his first-choice pairing of Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven in central defence, but Spurs were still not equipped to deal with Forest’s directness.
The crosses kept coming. Anderson spotted Wood, who was offside when he poked in from close range. Then Porro gave Elanga time to seek out Wood, who was unchallenged as he rose to nod past a flapping Vicario and put Forest two up inside 16 minutes.
Spurs, who were without Son Heung-min and Destiny Udogie, had to respond. Wilson Odobert forced Matz Sels to make a good save. Mathys Tel failed to punish an error from Neco Williams. Richarlison headed wide when Pape Sarr looked better placed at the far post. It was not enough to stave off the half-time boos.
Postecoglou’s next move was to bring Ben Davies and Kevin Danso on for Van de Ven and Romero. Forest also adjusted during the break, gearing themselves up for a rearguard action by replacing Elanga with Morato, who joined Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic in the middle of a back five.
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This was Nuno showing his flexibility, adjusting to circumstance, trusting in his towering defence to hold firm. The danger, of course, was inviting pressure. On the other hand confidence probably came from Spurs starting with Dominic Solanke, Brennan Johnson and James Maddison on the bench.
Yet this was far from done. Forest went close to a third, Wood flicking on for Gibbs-White to volley wide, but it required an astonishing goalline clearance from Toffolo to stop Dejan Kulusveski from halving the deficit with a looping header. Sels also made a brave save to deny Richarlison.
Forest were not safe. Sels repelled another effort from Richarlison but the forward eventually scored with a deft header with three minutes left. The anxiety rising, even Nuno started to look tense on the touchline.
Yet the commitment of his team is quite something. They head to Wembley on Sunday, an FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City there to be won, and will keep dreaming. Out of the top five before the start of play, the question was whether they could handle the pressure. Their response was resounding.