Matt Doherty can shine again under former boss Espirito Santo

Matt Doherty

Matt Doherty Credit: Michael P Ryan (ETPhotos)

Nuno Espirito Santo’s arrival at Tottenham would inevitably have been met with joy by full-back Matt Doherty. After all, the Irish international flourished under the Portuguese head coach once before, at Wolves.

The quality of Doherty's performances in the Premier League between 2018 and 2020 in Santo’s team led to Tottenham signing him last summer for an undisclosed fee: Jose Mourinho was a big fan of the Irishman and sought to make him one of his first signings in the 2020 summer transfer window.

Consequently, the 29-year-old went on to play 17 Premier League games last season. All in all, he had a mixed campaign and one where he certainly didn't reach the same heights as he did at Molineux. However, this may have been down, in part, to Mourinho’s tactics or the extra pressure on his shoulders to deliver at his new club.

It wasn’t just Doherty who struggled at times: Tottenham had to settle overall for seventh place. Presently, they're 5/1 in the English Premier League betting odds to achieve a top-four finish this season. This will most definitely be the immediate target for Santo as the club will be striving for a return to the Champions League.

Doherty will know that the current Spurs boss can get the best out of him and he's likely to get more starts in the Premier League under Santo than he did last season. In many ways, 2021/22 is a fresh start for him in North London.

Competition For Places At Full Back

It must be acknowledged that Santo has some healthy competition for full-back places within his squad. This means that Doherty will need to work hard and will be unable to rely on automatic selection just because the manager knows him.

It will be interesting to see how Doherty fares against the likes of, for instance, 28-year-old Serge Aurier who was often favoured over him in the last season. The experienced Ivory Coast international is the main competition to the Irish player in the right-back slot, though Japhet Tanganga has also proved he's a player who can step into the first team on the right or in the middle of the defence.

In addition, one of Tottenham’s main summer signings is Cristian Romero from Atalanta. The hope is that he should improve their defence and help them improve on the 45 goals they conceded in the Premier League during the 2020/21 campaign.

Santo won't just implement Doherty to stop the opposition. Doherty was a formidable force as an attacking fullback during his time at Wolves, so we can expect to see him advance forward as much as possible once again and put in as many crosses as he can into the middle of the box.



Trophies Still The Aim

Let's not forget: one of the main reasons Doherty opted to join Spurs in the first place was to win trophies. Having already won League One and then the Championship with the Wolves, a Premier League winners medal will serve as the next objective.

Spurs were beaten in the final of the EFL Cup last season by Manchester City. Doherty didn't play in the game at Wembley. The cup competitions could prove to be the North London club’s best chance of silverware once again.

Hopefully, the Irishman returns to his best, which can only be good news for the Ireland national team as he'll be an important player for his country in their bid to qualify for the World Cup in 2022.