Mourinho confident that summer signing will ‘improve’ after recent conversation

Jose Mourinho has stated that he has full trust in Matt Doherty and confidently claimed that the right-back will improve after a lacklustre start to his Tottenham career.

Doherty’s arrival seemed like a real coup for Spurs in the summer but the former Wolves man has not quite hit the ground running since moving to North London.

The 29-year-old’s move appears to have galvanised Serge Aurier, who has been one of Tottenham’s most improved players this season, even though the Ivorian has also been guilty of a few poor errors.

Aurier has been Mourinho’s first-choice at right-back for the past few months and deservedly so based on what we have seen from him and Doherty on the pitch so far.

Mourinho revealed that the Republic of Ireland international admitted to him that he is much better than he has shown during his spell at the club so far and backed him to come good.

The Spurs boss told Football.London: “I was with SpursTV before I joined you and speaking about Pierre [Emile Hojbjerg].

“He is an example of a guy who arrived and immediately looks like a guy who was here his whole life and immediately making an impact.

“Not every player does that. Sometimes it’s a little more difficult. But we believe in [Matt], he believes in us, and we spoke about that a few days ago.

“He feels it was a great decision to move, he’s very happy to be here and admits he’s much better than what he’s showing. Again, confidence is very important and I believe that he’ll only improve. He’s a player that we trust.”

Spurs Web Opinion

Fans are always quick to jump on the back of new signings if they do not hit the ground running in the social media era and that has certainly been the case with Doherty, with many Spurs fans seemingly already writing him off.

However, the Irishman has had to adapt to a different position than he has thrived in at Wolves (partly due to Reguilon’s arrival) and has not had a consistent run in the side. I would like to see him get a few games under his belt at right-wing-back when we use a back three as I believe Doherty is much better than he has shown in a Spurs shirt so far.

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