Tottenham players were left unimpressed by Nuno's management methods before Monday's sacking, it has been revealed.

The London Evening Standard says the squad had serious reservations about Nuno's qualities as manager and it was telling that not a single Spurs player has so far paid tribute to the Portuguese on social media.

Nuno has always preferred working with a small group and there was quickly a sense within the squad that you were either in or out under the 47-year-old.

This sense of favouritism and hierarchy was emphasised by one of Nuno's biggest mistakes in the job, the decision to leave his entire first XI at home for Europa Conference League trip to Vitesse Arnhem, effectively creating a two-tiered squad. Many of the players were unimpressed, with those in the de facto “second XI" particularly angry and demoralised.

Many of the players found Nuno cold, distant and uncommunicative, and even those in his “first XI" reported that they didn't really know anything about their head coach.

He rarely held team meetings and never entertained players one-on-one in his office, as his predecessors Jose Mourinho and Mauricio Pochettino had done.

One established player was stunned when he discovered he had been dropped from the squad for an away game from a teammate rather than the manager, while there was a perception that Nuno was only really willing to speak to a handful of senior players.