Tottenham Hotspur and Republic of Ireland international Matt Doherty should be Antonio Conte’s first-choice right-back.
That is according to The Athletic’s James Maw, who was speaking on The View from the Lane podcast, following the Lilywhites’ stunning 6-2 Premier League victory over Leicester City.
Doherty has not yet started a game for Tottenham this season, with Emerson Royal holding down the right wing-back spot for Conte’s side during the current campaign, before being replaced by Ivan Perišic for last weekend’s demolition of the Foxes.
However, the 29-time Republic of Ireland international had become a regular feature in the side from late January onwards last season, until a medial collateral ligament rupture ended his season in mid-April.
But Maw now believes it’s time for Doherty to regain his place at right wing-back in Conte’s side after the international break.
“He would be my choice, out of the realistic options at the club at the moment,” Maw told the View from the Lane podcast.
“I just think that Doherty was incredibly good in that role in those two months last season before he got injured, so it kind of feels like he should be first choice.”
TIF Thoughts on Maw’s comments
We agree with Maw and believe that now is the time to bring Doherty back into the Spurs side, with the wing-back able to offer a goal threat unlike any other full-back in the squad, whilst we believe that Perišic’s best position is on the left-side of wing-back.
In 107 appearances in the Premier League (as a fully-fledged starter) across spells at both Wolverhampton Wanderers and Spurs, the Dublin-born wing-back has scored ten goals and provided 17 assists according to Transfermarkt, suggesting that he has an extremely impressive goal output when deployed in his natural wing-back position.
Therefore, we believe that if Conte wants his wing-backs to add more to the side’s attacking output, he has a ready-made experienced option in Doherty on that right-side.