Matt Doherty has thrilled Antonio Conte with how he has come on leaps and bounds to set a ‘good example’ for his Tottenham Hotspur teammates in training, via football.london.
Conte has sung the Republic of Ireland international’s praises after he won the Spurs boss’ support over recent months. The Italian initially felt upon replacing Nuno Espirito Santo in November that Doherty was not up to the standards he would require during his tenure.
A lack of belief in the £15m Jose Mourinho signing from Wolves in 2020 saw him spend the first four months of Conte’s reign in the north London wilderness. Doherty featured in just seven of 14 possible Premier League games, yet played the full 90 minutes in their last six.
Learning from Conte at Hotspur Way has worked wonders for Doherty upon his new lease of life at Tottenham. Along with displacing Emerson Royal, the 30-year-old has scored two and assisted three goals in his last six outings, helping beat Leeds, Everton and Newcastle.
Only Manchester United have managed to take points off Spurs since Doherty retook first-choice status in north London. Tottenham also kept clean sheets against Leeds, Everton and Brighton. Conte’s men had not shut a side out over their prior six top-flight fixtures.
Conte claims Doherty ‘didn’t deserve to play’ at start of his Tottenham tenure
Conte openly admits he did not rate Doherty upon replacing Nuno as Tottenham boss last year. But the 25-cap star’s drive to win the Italian over and progression shown over recent months left a lasting impression. He also admires Doherty more so now for his behaviour.
So much so that Conte now rates the full-back as a standard-setter at Spurs. And one who did his talking at the training ground, than protesting his case for more games with words.
“Matthew is the typical player that is showing big improvement,” Conte enthused. “If you remember at the start [of my tenure], he didn’t play a lot with me because at that moment I think he didn’t deserve to play. Then he worked very hard.
“He is a really good guy, and in every training session you see the desire and the will to improve himself.
“He has a great mentality. Many times when players don’t play a lot, they go down mentally. Instead, he has shown me to be strong and shown me: ‘I do what you want, I am going to improve and when I am ready, I want to play’.
“He has shown me that not with talking, but with attitude and behaviour. He is playing very well and with great confidence, and I am very happy for him. It’s a good example for everyone.”
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