Matt Doherty has explained that Tottenham Hotspur are working on their lack of creativity and their need to defend better after a difficult seven-days, via quotes by football.london.
Nuno Espirito Santo suffered his first loss as Spurs manager last week when Crystal Palace claimed a shock 3-0 win. The north Londoners had won each of their opening three Premier League games under the Portuguese 1-0. But injuries have only added to their problems.
Tottenham lost Steven Bergwijn and Lucas Moura at Stade Rennes during a hard-fought draw in the Conference League on Thursday. Both are now in a race to prove their fitness to face Chelsea on Sunday, when Nuno will hope to guide Spurs back to winning ways.
Doherty understands Tottenham need to improve their creative and defensive work to get back to winning games consistently under Nuno. After not conceding a single goal in three games, they have allowed five in their last two.
“We are working on [the lack of creativity], we are aware we are lacking in chances and goals this season – we have only scored three league goals,” Doherty said.
“We are aware we need to keep the door shut at the back but then when we have the ball, we need to start creating and having our ability we have going forward in the team. If we keep working on it and keep getting in the right positions things will change.”
Will Tottenham bounce back and improve in areas Doherty mentions vs Chelsea?
Nuno will need Tottenham firing on all cylinders and showing the improvements Doherty mentions in attack to beat Chelsea. Thomas Tuchel’s Blues have only conceded once in their opening four Premier League games after Mohamed Salah converted a penalty.
No team in Europe has claimed more clean sheets than Chelsea’s 23 since Tuchel arrived at Stamford Bridge in January. They have shut out opponents in 62% of their 37 fixtures under the German across all competitions.
The Blues have also only conceded 23 times thus far with Tuchel at the helm to 56 goals scored. Nuno is on an eight-to-six goals-to-goals-conceded record with Tottenham, to highlight the work Doherty explains they are working to address.
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