When was the last time your seventh choice for anything worked out well? It might have seemed a little premature for Tottenham Hotspur to dispense with Nuno Espirito Santo on Monday after just 17 games and exactly four months in the job -- and replace him with Antonio Conte the very next day -- but his chance of success was irrevocably undermined from day one.
This is a Spurs squad still requiring a manager with the strength and vision to drag it forward from the Mauricio Pochettino era. Jose Mourinho tried to do so with his force of personality, but the players failed to respond to his combative approach -- markedly at odds with Pochettino's "band of brothers" feel -- and a functional style of football, also a stark contrast from what had gone before.