Alasdair Gold has claimed that Matt Doherty seems as though he is now enjoying his football a lot more after stringing a run of decent performances together over recent weeks.
Doherty has struggled to get a run of starts under his belt since his move from Wolves in the summer of 2020.
It seemed as though the 30-year-old’s Tottenham career was set to end during the January transfer window (The Times) but he ended up staying at Spurs, possibly because the North London club were unable to bring Adama Traore in (The Athletic).
The Republic of Ireland international has enjoyed a resurgence over the last few weeks and put in what was arguably his best performance in a Spurs shirt as the Lilywhites thrashed Everton 5-0 on Monday.
After Doherty assisted both of Harry Kane’s goals against the Toffees, the right-back was singled out for praise by Antonio Conte, who underlined how much the former Wolves man had improved (Football.London).
Gold has suggested that Doherty seems much more enthusiastic off the pitch now that he is contributing to the team.
The journalist said on his YouTube Channel: “I’m so happy for Matt Doherty. He was excellent, he was really, really good, and you can feel that he’s starting to feel like he’s contributed.
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“You can feel like he can now be a bit more of a presence on social media and you can see him kind of shouting and celebrating with the fans and stuff.
“It’s not that he felt like a fraud or anything but by his own admission he’s still – even out of his normal position he wasn’t showing what he could do.
“(Now) you could just see that different player, confidence does that… you’re seeing a man who’s grown in confidence.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Doherty’s improvement shows how important a factor confidence is in football.
Fans love writing some players off as “rubbish” but every player at this level is quite talented and their mental state thus has a huge bearing on their form.
Hopefully, the 30-year-old can continue proving his critics wrong over the coming months.
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