Nuno Espirito Santo’s honeymoon period at Tottenham Hotspur ended on Saturday.
After three 1-0 wins over Man City, Wolves and Watford, his Spurs side were brought back down to earth with a bump as they lost 3-0 at London rivals Crystal Palace.
The result was awful, even when you factor in that Spurs played a third of the match with 10 men following the 58th-minute red card shown to Japhet Tanganga.
But the performance and style of play was what irked many fans. And many of them took to Twitter to vent.
Among the fan feedback was a common theme, with Nuno repeatedly compared to his predecessor Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho was not widely loved by Spurs fans due to his perceived negative and defensive tactics (and his Chelsea links).
When Nuno was hired, an official statement by club chairman Daniel Levy referenced Tottenham’s “need to revert back to our core DNA of playing attacking, entertaining football”.
But many Spurs fans are not convinced that Nuno is really the man to fulfil this need. His football at Wolves was far from scintillating and, even in their victories, Spurs have been more functional than fantastic.
After Saturday’s Selhurst Park thrashing, Spurs Twitter was ablaze with negative feedback, summed up by a comment from @LeachysCleaner, who termed Nuno: “A pound shop Mourinho”.