How Tottenham could line up under Antonio Conte following Nuno sacking

Nuno sacked

Tottenham would go head-to-head with Manchester United on Saturday evening.

Heading into the tie, it was understood that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s job was on the line.

However, following Manchester United emerging with a 3-0 win, it now instead appears to be Nuno Espirito Santo whose future is up in the air.

It was first reported on Saturday evening that Nuno was not in immediate danger when it came to his position at Spurs.

However, news then broke on Sunday afternoon that the Portuguese could indeed be sacked, with talks being held over his future:

Exclusive – Nuno could be sacked by Tottenham. Talks over his future happening today #thfc https://t.co/bsMP1BQeCx

— Matt Law (@Matt_Law_DT) October 31, 2021

At present, one of the headline names linked with the Tottenham job is of course Antonio Conte.

The Italian has previous success in the Premier League with Spurs’ London rivals, Chelsea, and is arguably the best manager out of work in world football right now.

In turn, according to Italian outlet Tuttomercatoweb:

Tottenham is hard at work for Antonio Conte. Contacts between the parties have begun.

*Update – Tottenham have since confirmed the sacking of Nuno and Conte is being heavily linked with the job.

On the back of this news, 101 have therefore taken a look at how Tottenham could line up under Antonio Conte.

How Tottenham could line up under Conte

If Conte is to make the move to north London, it is almost certain that he will switch to a back-three/five system.

The Italian won the Premier League with Chelsea using a back-three and dethroned Juventus in Serie A using a similar system.

At Inter, Conte would often opt for a two-man strike force, generally Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez.

However, as Spurs are fairly light in the striking department, we would likely see the fiery tactician opt for a similar 3-4-3 system to the one he used with Chelsea.

This would see Son used as the left-forward, Harry Kane through the middle and then one of Lucas Moura, Steven Bergwijn or Bryan Gil as the right-sided forward.

No room for Alli

In central midfield, meanwhile, Conte generally likes to have a defensively sound option, which in this case would probably come in the form of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

Then, the partner of this player, like Cesc Fabregas was at Chelsea, can operate with a more attacking mindset.

So, at Spurs, we would most likely see Oliver Skipp or Tanguy Ndombele used to partner Hojbjerg.

This would, in turn, lead to Dele Alli being left out, unless Conte opts to use him as a right-forward. But if the ex-Juventus boss does make the move back to the English capital, one would assume that he would opt for a slightly safer option in the RF spot to begin with.

Romero at the heart

Elsewhere, at wing-back, Sergio Reguilon seems almost nailed on to start in the left-hand-side spot.

The Spaniard is much better going forward than he is defensively, and is actually a similar player to Marcos Alonso, who Conte enjoyed a lot of success with whilst Chelsea boss.

On the opposite side, Matt Doherty, of course, has experience in a back-three/five and though he would likely get some minutes, Conte would no doubt opt for the much younger and quicker Emerson.

Emerson, like Reguilon, can sometimes be suspect defensively, but being used at RWB should help mask his weaknesses.

This just leaves the back-three. The most obvious option in this trio should be Cristian Romero.

The Argentine has ample experience in a back-three and played some of his best football when used as the central player in such a system with Atalanta.

At right-centre-back, Japhet Tanganga, who can be played as a centre-back or right-back, seems like the perfect choice.

And the final spot would probably be occupied by either Eric Dier or Ben Davies, the latter of whom has played as a left-sided centre-back before, despite being a left-back by nature.

Finally, though Hugo Lloris is likely to remain no.1 for the time being, Tottenham’s back-up goalkeeper, Pierluigi Gollini, is experienced playing behind a back-three, doing so for Atalanta along with Romero, suggesting that he would be able to adapt to Conte’s demands a lot quicker than most in the team.