Nuno Espirito Santo has been sacked by Tottenham less than five months after being appointed as head coach.

Tottenham are eighth in the Premier League, 10 points off leaders Chelsea, after the 3-0 home defeat to Manchester United on Saturday.

Nuno, 47, signed a two-year contract in June following a protracted search to find Jose Mourinho’s successor, with his tenure lasting just beyond four months and a total of only 17 games.

The departure of Nuno, who left Wolves in May after four seasons in charge, means Tottenham are looking for their fourth permanent manager in the last three years.

A Spurs statement said: “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.”

Spurs are next in action with a home game against Vitesse Arnhem in the Europa Conference League on Thursday ahead of a visit to Everton in the Premier League on Sunday.

Spurs managing director of football Fabio Paratici added: “I know how much Nuno and his coaching staff wanted to succeed and I regret that we have had to take this decision.

“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.”

Tottenham fans booed Nuno’s decision to replace Lucas Moura with Steven Bergwijn in the second half of the defeat to United, which followed last weekend’s Premier League loss at West Ham.

Sections of the Spurs support also chanted “we want Levy out”, with England captain Harry Kane, who expressed his desire to leave the club during the summer, also a target of frustration for some fans.

Keane’s blast for “boring” no-shots Spurs

Roy Keane castigated Tottenham as “boring” after their toothless display on Saturday Night Football.

Spurs have not had a shot on target in their last two hours and 16 minutes of football since Harry Kane’s header in the 44th minute against West Ham and Keane delivered a withering assessment of their display.

“Spurs are boring,” complained Sky Sports pundit Keane. “They are boring to watch.

“You’re looking for a bit of urgency. Nothing. I couldn’t believe how bad they were.”

Kane was seemingly singled out for criticism from the stands and Keane believes the England captain has not “recovered” from being denied a summer move out of Tottenham.

“It’s not a good combination when you’re not keeping clean sheets and Spurs, traditionally, you think of them scoring goals but they’re not even doing that. It’s the type of defeats they’ve had too,” said Keane.

“You do have to have some sympathy with the manager because he’s come in, thinking, ‘I’m going to be working with a world-class striker in Kane’ but that saga has dragged on. Kane hasn’t recovered from it and the team hasn’t.”

Fellow Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness agreed with Keane, saying: “This was the perfect game for Man Utd because Spurs are toothless; the stats tell you that – not a shot on target.

“They’re relying on Kane, Son and Moura for a spark but they look a shadow of the players they’ve been in the past.

“If you’re a Spurs supporter, you’re turning up wondering what you’re going to get. They’re toothless and they were very, very average today.”

“It could be a difficult season at Spurs. You wonder where they’re going. Mid-table at best.”

Tottenham fixtures

November 4: Tottenham vs Vitesse Arnhem – Europa Conference League, kick-off 8pm

November 7: Everton vs Tottenham – Premier League, kick-off 7pm

November 21: Tottenham vs Leeds – Premier League, kick-off 4.30pm, live on Sky Sports

November 25: NS Mura vs Tottenham – Europa Conference League, kick-off 5.45pm

November 28: Burnley vs Tottenham – Premier League, kick-off 2pm

December 2: Tottenham vs Brentford – Premier League, kick-off 7.30pm