Express & Star writer Matt Maher has suggested that Tottenham Hotspur defender Matt Doherty made his injury worse by initially trying to play on.
In his last outing for the club, the Spurs full-back suffered a serious setback that will now mean he is likely to miss the rest of the season.
Indeed, he was challenged by Aston Villa defender Matty Cash and ultimately could not continue playing. The full extent of his injury then became apparent after the game.
Is Matt Doherty Spurs' best wingback?
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However, while speaking on the E&S Villa Podcast, Maher stated that Cash hadn’t even fouled Doherty, and the Tottenham defender may have done the most damage by trying to play on twice after the incident.
He said: “Matt Doherty had a very unfortunate kind of injury after a challenge by Matty Cash, which wasn’t a foul, which was completely a tough but fair challenge.
“Some of the things I’ve seen on Twitter this morning, I think, perhaps people should know better, they might want to wonder whether Doherty has done more damage to that injury by playing on twice – despite having been assessed by the physios than the original challenge itself.”
TIF Thoughts on Matt Doherty and Tottenham Hotspur…
It’s interesting to hear Maher play down the role of the tackle itself in Doherty’s injury.
The player certainly did take a little time to come off after suffering the initial knock, and so this may have aggravated his issue as Maher suggests.
Regardless, Doherty will no doubt be gutted to miss out on the rest of the season. It is a cruel blow, as it comes just when he was making himself a key part of Antonio Conte’s plans – scoring twice and claiming three assists across seven league starts in a row.
In hindsight, perhaps he’ll be wishing he came off straight away.
In other news: Alasdair Gold claims Conte now ‘likes’ idea of unleashing Spurs star in shock position