Nuno Espirito Santo: Tottenham sack manager after heavy defeat by Manchester United

The Portuguese boss saw his side beaten 3-0 at home to a struggling Man United on Saturday

Tottenham have sacked Nuno Espirito Santo as manager after just four months in charge.

The Portuguese boss only took over in June, succeeding Jose Mourinho after Ryan Mason guided Spurs to the end of a difficult season as interim manager.

But despite a promising start with victory over Manchester City, Spurs’ form has declined in recent weeks with Saturday’s heavy defeat by struggling Manchester United leaving the club eighth.

A Tottenham statement released on Monday morning read: “The Club can today announce that Nuno Espirito Santo and his coaching staff Ian Cathro, Rui Barbosa and Antonio Dias have been relieved of their duties.

“A further coaching update will follow in due course,” the statement added, following words from Spurs’ sporting director Fabio Paratici.

“I know how much Nuno and his coaching staff wanted to succeed and I regret that we have had to take this decision,” Paratici said.

“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.”

Spurs remain in the hunt for a top-four finish, but September’s north London derby loss to Arsenal and back-to-back defeats by West Ham and now Man United have damaged their hopes of qualifying for Europe next season.

Nuno endured a difficult start to life at Tottenham with talisman Harry Kane’s unsuccessful push for a transfer.

The team’s poor results have not come solely in the Premier League, with Spurs also finding themselves in a tricky position in the Europa Conference League after their recent defeat by Vitesse, which has left them third in Group G.

The atmosphere at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has also quickly soured, with the home fans venting their frustration by booing Nuno’s decision to substitute Lucas Moura against Man United, as well as cries of, “you don’t know what you’re doing” loudly heard around the stadium.

Responding to the criticism, Nuno told Sky Sports: “We’re not on the right track. We totally understand the criticism, it’s part of football.

“When the team doesn’t perform, the fans suffer, the fans are not happy and they showed they are not happy.

“It’s up to us to take it, tell them that we try our best, tell them that we are sorry because we didn’t perform as we wanted. And we keep on trying and in a humble way ask them to support us all the way.”