While away on international duty, Matt Doherty has been speaking about the huge improvements Antonio Conte has made with the Tottenham Hotspur players.
At the back end of last season, it appeared like Doherty was starting to win the trust of Conte and that he was finally flourishing at Tottenham starting seven games in a row, keeping four clean sheets and registering five goal involvements as a wing-back.
However, that was relatively short-lived as he was struck down with a cruel injury and as of yet, hasn’t been able to establish himself within the Italian’s lineup this season, although that hasn’t stopped him from praising what Conte’s done to improve him and his teammates.
Footage has emerged of Doherty speaking glowingly about Conte and how he’s made a big difference when it comes to the squad’s fitness levels.
“Obviously, fitness-wise there’s been a huge improvement, I think [from] the whole squad and not just me and tactically we are seeing a different style of play, a different way of playing and I think you can probably see that in the results we’re getting at club level now that we are not just dominating teams with the ball but we never really look at threat of conceding many goals and with the boys up top, we always have chances to win.
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“Mentally, he’s just changed the whole mentality of the club and made us feel like we can win, he’s made us feel like winners and we know that he’s won a lot in the past.”
TIF Thoughts on the difference Conte’s made at Spurs…
It shouldn’t take Doherty to come out and tell the media about the changes and difference Conte has made at Tottenham because results and performances on the pitch speak for themselves, especially when compared to life under Nuno Espirito Santo.
When Conte took over from Tottenham they had already endured some pretty embarrassing defeats at the hands of clubs such as West Ham, Crystal Palace and Pacos de Ferreira, whereas under the Italian boss they managed to scrape into the top four last term.
While the change in results and performances is widely noted as to being down to Conte largely, the fact that someone who’s yet to start a league game this season and is thus on the fringes is speaking so highly of Conte shows the effect he’s had on this group of Spurs players.