Antonio Conte has reserved special praise for Matt Doherty after the Republic of Ireland international produced an impressive display to help Tottenham see off Everton last night.
It looked like Doherty’s Spurs career was likely over until a month and a half ago, with Antonio Conte seemingly preferring Emerson Royal in the right wing-back role over the former Wolves man.
The 30-year-old was heavily linked with a move away from North London during the January transfer window (The Times).
Doherty ended up staying at Spurs and he has had a bit of a renaissance over the past few weeks, having seemingly overtaken Emerson in the battle for the right wing-back role.
The Irishman put in one of his best performances in a Tottenham shirt against Everton on Monday, setting up both of Harry Kane’s goals in the 5-0 win.
He sent Kane through on goal with a perfectly timed and weighted pass in the first half before finding the England captain with a ball over the top of the Everton backline which the striker volleyed into the bottom corner with a first-time finish in the second half.
Conte praised the improvement he has seen from Doherty and expressed his delight at the increased competition for places in the starting eleven.
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The Spurs boss told Football.London in his post-match press conference: “[Matt] Doherty is another player who I’d like to underline the improvement and then also we have Emerson.
“Now the competition into the team is important. I think now I am starting to see a bit of competition in the team and if you want to become strong it is important to have competition and not players that they are sure they are going to play every game, every game, every game.
“They have to deserve and the competition is very good to improve our level.”
Spurs Web Opinion
I do not think what we are saying is a case of Doherty improving as a player. He always possessed the attributes to shine at right wing-back and we are finally seeing the best of him, now that he has been given a run in his favourite position.
It was also evident that his confidence had been shattered by being consistently overlooked by both Mourinho and Nuno. He seems to have got some of his confidence back over the last few weeks on the back of getting regular game time.
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