Matt Doherty struggles at Tottenham explained by Glenn Hoddle
According to Football.london, former Tottenham manager Glenn Hoddle has claimed that Matt Doherty is struggling at the club due to a change in his playing position.
Doherty arrived at Tottenham Hotspur last summer from Wolves in a deal worth £15m. Considering his experience and exploits with Wolves, the deal was hailed as quite the bargain. Upon his arrival, Tottenham also allowed Kyle Walker-Peters to leave permanently to join Southampton.
However, Doherty has struggled to reproduce his form at Tottenham while Walker-Peters has shone at Southampton. And, Hoddle has claimed that the reason behind the Irishman’s struggles under Jose Mourinho is that he is playing a different role than he used to at Wolves.
With the Midlands’ outfit, Doherty was largely deployed as a wing-back on the right side. But at Tottenham, he plays as a natural right-back in a slightly deeper role. And Hoddle is of the opinion that this adjustment has been hard for the Republic of Ireland international.
“Well, we saw him play extremely well for Wolves, but when he first went to Tottenham I thought ‘well, they must be playing a back three.’ I think Matt Doherty in a wing-back position, that’s his position. I think he finds it hard in a back four, and I really do feel that that is the problem.”
“It’s a slight adjustment from a wing-back to a full-back, you have to be on the cover a bit more and you have to defend a bit deeper, and he’s not as advanced as he would have been when he played for Wolves.”
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Doherty was all over the place in Tottenham’s most recent game against Arsenal. The Irishman was torn apart by the combination play of Kieran Tierney and Emile Smith Rowe. Things haven’t gone well enough for him in his debut season at the club.
But, it is unlikely that Mourinho, who prefers the 4-2-3-1 setup, will switch things up to a three-man backline in order to accommodate Doherty. The Irishman must dig deep and bounce back from his struggles.
