Nuno ESPírito Santo: ‘It Is like Coca-Cola, They Never Change the Recipe’

 Nuno Espírito Santo saw his side beat Manchester City on penalties to win the Premier League Asia Trophy in Shanghai. Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters
Nuno Espírito Santo saw his side beat Manchester City on penalties to win the Premier League Asia Trophy in Shanghai. Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters
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Nuno ESPírito Santo: ‘It Is like Coca-Cola, They Never Change the Recipe’

 Nuno Espírito Santo saw his side beat Manchester City on penalties to win the Premier League Asia Trophy in Shanghai. Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters
Nuno Espírito Santo saw his side beat Manchester City on penalties to win the Premier League Asia Trophy in Shanghai. Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters

Nuno Espírito Santo has been holding court for about 20 minutes, at one stage comparing the ingredients that go into making Coca-Cola with his own recipe for success at Wolves, when he leans in and makes a prediction that stops everyone in their tracks. “I will not give you clues, but football is gonna change,” Nuno says.

That intriguing comment comes in the middle of an answer about whether or not those players who experienced Premier League football for the first time with Wolves last season, when the Midlands club blazed a trail by taking 16 points off the top six, finishing seventh and qualifying for Europe for the first time in 39 years – they face Crusaders in the first leg of their second-round Europa League qualifier on Thursday evening – will be better for the experience.

“We started this season trying to develop, trying to improve. We are not going back trying to repeat the same things we did last pre-season. It doesn’t make sense,” Nuno says. “After two years of working we are the same people, we know everything. We have to go and look for better solutions, trying to anticipate. I will not give you clues but football is gonna change.

“The football you see now and are reflecting on this season, I will not say next season, but in two seasons’ time, is gonna change. I will not tell you, but there are normal effects of when teams sit, they affect naturally the rest of football. If you consider that … I am already telling you too many things. This is what we are trying to anticipate. All the managers are quite clear on how they want their teams to play, and how to perform. What I am trying to build and improve is, I know, I suspect, going to change.”

Asked whether a new cycle is coming, Nuno replies: “I know a new cycle is coming.” So is he talking about other ways of playing, through different systems? “Mmm, OK. You look at that, you look at systems, tactical aspects. But I’m telling you, for sure, in two seasons the football in the Premier League will change.”

As with a game of chess, Nuno seems to be thinking a few moves ahead. “It is a lot like chess,” he adds. “I think all the managers, for sure, we have to anticipate. The best way, it is chess. I tried to put myself inside the other managers’ heads. It is a good exercise. If I played against Wolves, what would I do?” Does he ever win in that scenario? “Never,” replies Nuno, with a wry smile.

Nuno has a reputation for being a man of few words when it comes to press conferences and it would be easy to form an opinion on him based on some of those awkward exchanges before or after matches. As anyone who is a regular visitor to Molineux will know, his programme notes are just as brief and would struggle to fill the back of a postcard. Small talk of any description is not really Nuno’s thing.

Yet the reality is that, in the right setting, the 45-year-old can be fascinating and engaging company. A couple of weeks ago, the former Valencia and Porto manager sat down with half a dozen journalists at Compton, Wolves’ training ground, and spoke candidly for more than 45 minutes across a wide range of topics, taking in everything from the mental cross-examination he puts himself through after a disappointing performance to the unwavering belief that he has in his own philosophy.

“Everybody knows how we play, everybody can see. It is the most important thing, an identity,” Nuno says. “When things don’t go so well, what are you gonna grab? Stick to it. It is like Coca-Cola, they never change the recipe. Diet, full sugar, no caffeine, maybe. But the recipe is always there.”

Nuno changed the system last season after Wolves picked up only one point from a possible 18, but not his “idea” – something he talks about a lot. The 3-4-3 that had previously served Wolves so well needed another layer, or an “extra line” as Nuno puts it, to give Wolves “the capacity to go higher on the pitch”. Deploying Rúben Neves in a slightly deeper role was the solution.

His overriding message, though, is that the basis of his approach – seizing the initiative defensively and stealing possession in areas that leave opponents unbalanced and exposed – will always remain the same. “The idea never changes,” Nuno adds. “I always look at the way I want to be in the game, even if I don’t have the ball I can be in control of the game … my defensive process has to be organised and strong enough to control the game. How I do that? By creating trigger points on where I want to recover the ball.”

Interestingly, Nuno takes no credit whatsoever for the decision to pair Raúl Jiménez and Diogo Jota up front midway through the season and the way that those two dovetailed so beautifully thereafter. “That is luck,” he says, almost dismissively. “One day I went: ‘Let’s try.’ Quality and talent of the players and dedication, belief – the way they believe in what you say and propose, it is always about that. You can have the brightest of ideas you can imagine, but if your players don’t believe – pah.” Presumably, though, it is Nuno who engenders that belief? “They give to me, honestly. It is the other way around.”

When it goes wrong, however, it is Nuno who shoulders the blame. So much so that his family would like to see him smile now and again. “They say I should enjoy it more. They say: ‘Even when you lose you shouldn’t be so down.’ But how can you not be down? When the team doesn’t play good you go home and you say: ‘Why? Why? Why? Why?’ And you go around the ‘why’ and the ‘how?’ It’s very hard to enjoy.”

One of the few occasions when Nuno did have genuine reason to feel low was after the FA Cup semi-final defeat against Watford in April, when Wolves threw away a 2-0 lead with 11 minutes remaining. Yet even then there was much to admire about the way his players responded, taking 10 points from their last five matches to secure seventh spot.

“It was a tough moment. It can disrupt a season and create problems but we reacted very well,” says Nuno. “After the result at Southampton [the week after Watford], the way we performed with steel and making our grief, if you can say that … we had a moment to gel and put the past behind you and look forward. The boys did fantastically.”

Although the transfer window has been frustrating so far for Wolves, pre-season has been rewarding in other ways. Wolves defeated Newcastle 4-0 before beating Manchester City on penalties in Shanghai on Saturday to win the Premier League Asia Trophy. That competition may rank low on their list of priorities this season but it meant a lot to Fosun, the club’s ambitious Chinese owners, and Nuno recognised that afterwards. The Portuguese handed his winners’ medal over to Guo Guangchang, Fosun’s chairman, as soon as he walked off.

The pursuit of more silverware starts with Thursday’s first leg against Northern Irish side Crusaders. It is the first European tie that Wolves have taken part in since 1980, when they lost 3-2 on aggregate to PSV Eindhoven in the old Uefa Cup, and the fact that it is a 30,000 sell-out says everything about the mood around Molineux these days. “This is what we work for,” says Nuno, smiling. “We work to give joy to the fans. If the fans are not happy, what’s the point?”

The Guardian Sport



Motorcycling-Double Dakar Winner Sunderland Chasing Round the World Record

Rallying - Dakar Rally - Prologue - Alula to Alula - Alula, Saudi Arabia - January 5, 2024 Red Bull GASGAS Factory's Sam Sunderland in action during the prologue stage REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo
Rallying - Dakar Rally - Prologue - Alula to Alula - Alula, Saudi Arabia - January 5, 2024 Red Bull GASGAS Factory's Sam Sunderland in action during the prologue stage REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo
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Motorcycling-Double Dakar Winner Sunderland Chasing Round the World Record

Rallying - Dakar Rally - Prologue - Alula to Alula - Alula, Saudi Arabia - January 5, 2024 Red Bull GASGAS Factory's Sam Sunderland in action during the prologue stage REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo
Rallying - Dakar Rally - Prologue - Alula to Alula - Alula, Saudi Arabia - January 5, 2024 Red Bull GASGAS Factory's Sam Sunderland in action during the prologue stage REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo

Double Dakar Rally motorcycle champion Sam Sunderland is gearing up to ride around the world in 19 days, a record bid that the Briton expects to be mentally more challenging than anything he has done before.

The bid, launched on Thursday, targets a record of 19 days, eight hours and 25 minutes set in 2002 by Kevin and Julia Sanders for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe by motorcycle.

To beat the feat, which is no longer recognised by Guinness World Records because of the dangers involved, the 36-year-old will have to ride 1,000 miles every day and on public roads across Europe, Türkiye and into the Middle East, Reuters reported.

A flight will take him on to the Australian outback, New Zealand and the Americas. From there, he and the Triumph Tiger 1200 go to Morocco and loop back through Europe to Britain.

What could possibly go wrong?

"I don't think you can ride around the world and cover that many miles a day without having a few hiccups along the way," Sunderland told Reuters with a grin.

"When I try and compare it to the Dakar it's going to be probably, in some sense, tougher. Not physically but mentally.

"In the Dakar you've got a heap of adrenaline, you're super focused, things are changing quite often which makes you have to react. And this is like: 'Right, those are your miles for the day, get them done'. It's more like a mental fatigue."

 

ONE DIRECTION

 

The target time excludes ocean crossings but the journey, starting in September, must go one way around the world and start and finish at the same location on the same machine.

Two antipodal points must be reached on a journey through more than 15 countries and 13 time zones. The Dakar rally covers 5,000 miles over two weeks.

"I was trying to put it into perspective for my mum the other day, and my mum lives in Poole in the south of England, and I was like 'Mum, it's like you driving up to Scotland and perhaps halfway back every day for 19 days'," said Sunderland.

"I'm on the bike for around 17 hours (a day). I set off at 5 a.m. and arrive around 10, 11 p.m. most nights. So definitely later into the day you feel that sort of mental fatigue setting in, and to stay focused and stimulated is not that easy.

"But at least I don't have dunes and mountains to deal with and other riders in the dust, and hopefully not getting lost either."

"I need to behave, let's say, I need to follow the rules of the road and be a good boy with it," said Sunderland, who announced his retirement from professional racing last year.

Sunderland will have a support crew of six travelling behind by car, for security and assistance, but the Red Bull-backed rider expects to be well ahead.

He also hopes his bid will have a positive effect.

"In the news today, it's all sort of doom and gloom in the world, with all the wars going on," he said. "And I think it's quite nice to show people that you can still get out there and experience the world for what it really is."