Alasdair Gold has revealed that Antonio Conte is extremely displeased at the nature of Matty Cash’s challenge on Matt Doherty during Tottenham’s 4-0 win over Aston Villa two weeks ago.
After struggling to get game time in Conte’s first couple of months in charge of Spurs, Doherty seemed to have turned a corner and had established himself as the Italian’s first choice at right wing-back.
The Republic of Ireland international had been in fantastic form leading up to the game at Villa Park and was showing the kind of returns he did during his final few seasons at Wolves.
However, the 30-year-old was on the receiving end of a rough challenge from Cash, who seemed to catch the Tottenham man on the follow-through
Doherty subsequently suffered a medial collateral ligament tear as a result and has been ruled out of action for the remainder of the season (Transfermarkt).
Gold insisted Conte’s post-match comments following Tottenham’s 1-0 loss to Brighton on Saturday suggested that the 52-year-old is still seething about the challenge on Doherty.
The journalist said on his YouTube channel.: “I mean, look, Conte is really angry with the Matty Cash challenge on Matt Doherty. [He] kind of spoke about it again after this match when asked about players being protected as there was a few tough tackles.
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“When it came to the Doherty challenge last week, obviously Conte, he is absolutely still, you can see, seething about that because Matt Doherty was finding his form and he was providing a key element to Conte’s team as that wide, pushing-on wing-back who essentially is like another attacker in the box.”
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Doherty had been one of our most consistent players in the months leading up to the injury. So, there is no doubt that the 30-year-old is a huge loss.
However, Emerson has been showing signs of improvement over recent months and the Brazilian now has a great opportunity to prove to Conte that he deserves to be a part of his plans moving forward.
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