Tottenham Hotspur journalist Alasdair Gold has been sharing his criticism for Lilywhites defender Matt Doherty and his recent performance for the north London club during their recent 2-1 defeat against Arsenal at the weekend.
This comes after Gold recently uploaded a video onto his YouTube channel where he spoke about a variety of topics concerning Jose Mourinho’s side, including the defeat against Mikel Arteta’s side at the Emirates Stadium.
On the subject of Doherty, who played through the entire game against Arsenal, Gold had this to say about his performance and his involvement in Martin Odegaard’s goal in particular.
He said: “He had a nightmare, but I think that was also partly due to the fact that the poor guy was left utterly exposed.
“Let’s talk about the moment that I do think he deserves criticism for: the goal itself just before half time, [he was] absolutely skinned by Kieran Tierney. There are no excuses for that because it was a one-on-one.
“He just absolutely tore him apart, cut the ball in for Odegaard to then knock the ball off of [Toby] Alderweireld’s legs into the net. That, there are no excuses for, Doherty, that’s just poor defending, that’s being beaten far too easily and he will be incredibly disappointed with that.”
Was Doherty to blame for Arsenal's first goal?
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No
Spurs signed Doherty during the previous summer transfer window from fellow Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers in a deal worth a reported fee of £15.12 million.
TIF Thoughts on Alasdair Gold’s comments on Doherty and his performance against Arsenal…
Since arriving at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the 29-year-old, who is currently valued at £18 million, has made 15 appearances for Spurs in the Premier League and earned himself a season rating of 6.71/10 for his performances along the way, making him their joint ninth-highest-rated player (per WhoScored).
Given how Doherty managed to just earn himself a match rating of 6.56/10 for his performance against Arsenal, making him their joint-fourth-highest rated player on the day, this suggests that while he may not have had a particularly good game, he was still one of Tottenham’s better players in the match overall.
In our view, perhaps this moment against Arsenal that led to Odegaard’s goal was just a one-off situation that Doherty moves on from after a respectable start to his debut season with Spurs. Also, with Mourinho calling the Irishman’s defensive display in their recent win against Crystal Palace “impeccable”, he certainly knows that Doherty is capable of being a solid defender for the team.