Matt Doherty @ Atletico Madrid

[snakehipsspurs]

He's not a proper right back, but he is good at knowing when he needs to come back and help, he takes up decent defensive positions and doesn't make mistakes diving in or getting caught out. He's not a good 1-1 defender though, we all knew this, but he doesn't make rash choices or get totally skinned, he gets beaten but recovers.

As for going forward, it's true he's not been overly dynamic yet, but what he does is give us a proper outlet down that wing. He held possession really well, gave us great width and ran hard all day.

I think give we should all give him more time to settle in. He's not being asked to underlap like he did at Wolves and he doesn't have runners out wide to help him so he's having to learn how to get himself involved in our attacks. But already, with the pass into Lamela's feet or when he drove down the byline and won the corner, you can see he's figuring it out.

 

[DogsOfWar]

He's decent enough and has given us another option. With Aurier stepping up I don't see RB as a problem anymore.
a lot of Poch's success was based on having Davies and Trippier rotating with Walker and Rose, and it feels like we have that back now (although Aurier obviously isn't on prime Walkers level).

 

[Spurrific]

Genuinely wonder what game some of you were watching.

Same game as you, pal - where Doherty was a bit shit. Not writing him off, but he was bad today. I will say he grew into it, but that first half was about as stinky as it gets.

 

[bubble07]

Still I feel safer with him than Aurier but that may be due to Auriers previous

 

[bubble07]

I think in a few weeks him and bale will be stand out first choice

 

[Oh Teddy Teddy]

Same game as you, pal - where Doherty was proper shit. Not writing him off, but he was atrocious today.

He literally got dribbled past three times. Granted he was decent going forward and played better in the second half but he was poor defensively and frankly we were lucky it was Burnley and not a team who were actually dangerous down the wing.

Certainly not saying he was excellent but they offered absolutely nothing from that side. Same with Davies. He’s been getting absolute pelters because he isn’t great going forward; doesn’t matter that he was solid defensively.

It’s just a case of picking one or two moments and basing half-assed judgements off those.

 

[thebenjamin]

Criticising him tonight is really showing a lack of understanding of the opponent and his role. Dwight McNeil is Burnley's entire supply line. What did he do tonight? Doherty did his job well. People need to stop expecting full backs to do absolutely everything - first job in a game like this is to stop the opposition.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Don’t like to criticise as he had and ok game and I’m a big fan of his but he did get beaten 1v1 twice quite easily which is becoming a bit of a habit.

Need to keep an eye on that against top class opposition.

 

[DanNolan]

This guy is not going to be a starter for Spurs long term. Hes ok as a wing back, can be ok moving forward but fact is hes too slow defensively on the turn and is a very poor 1v1 defender. He will not get way with that playig RB for a team who want to challenge.
Hes the only signing who is a little disappointing.

 

[DanNolan]

Criticising him tonight is really showing a lack of understanding of the opponent and his role. Dwight McNeil is Burnley's entire supply line. What did he do tonight? Doherty did his job well. People need to stop expecting full backs to do absolutely everything - first job in a game like this is to stop the opposition.

He got beated 1f1 3 seperate times.... just because they didnt score doesnt mean this didnt happen?

 

[wiggo24]

He's exactly what Wolves fans said he was. When we signed him people went a bit OTT based on his goals/assists but the reality is that he's strong in the attacking third, decent in the defensive third and pretty poor in between.

He's never been a progressive passer, he's never been an elite 1v1 defender. He's aggressive and his attacking movement is excellent.

Against teams where we can take more risks he'll be a good outlet (see the first half v Newcastle), but aside from that Aurier remains the better player across the 90 minutes, despite his irritating moments of madness.

 

[SargeantMeatCurtains]

Certainly not saying he was excellent but they offered absolutely nothing from that side. Same with Davies. He’s been getting absolute pelters because he isn’t great going forward; doesn’t matter that he was solid defensively.

It’s just a case of picking one or two moments and basing half-assed judgements off those.

They offered nothing from that side because their wide players are absolute garbage pal. That doesn’t ignore the fact he was poorly beaten at least three times by said garbage wingers.

It’s not half arsed whatsoever. What are you judging his performance on, then? His primary role in the team is to defend and he was crap defensively. The same shit Aurier got thrown under the bus for on here on a weekly basis. It’s you and possibly a few others saying he has a good game, the rest are correctly calling him out for being poor tonight.

 

[Shadydan]

Yeah his footwork is really poor in 1on1 situations, it's fine to criticise him because he didn't have a good game, he needs to improve and I think he will but it's not the immediate upgrade I thought we were getting though tbh.

 

[Spurrific]

Criticising him tonight is really showing a lack of understanding of the opponent and his role. Dwight McNeil is Burnley's entire supply line. What did he do tonight? Doherty did his job well. People need to stop expecting full backs to do absolutely everything - first job in a game like this is to stop the opposition.

I mean, this isn’t true - and you have the cheek to act like it’s other people misunderstanding. Their main tactic is hoofing it up to Wood or Barnes to knock it down to the other and hope for a lucky bounce. Dwight McNeil isn't Ronaldinho, everything doesn’t go through him just because he’s their only actual footballer - he has 12 career assists - if he was “their entire supply line” they’d be relegated.

The problem was his slow and profligate passing, his laziness and getting back when he was dispossessed, the fact he got skinned a few times inexplicably - even when their man was doubled-up on by him and Hojbjerg, his crossing was worse than Aurier’s has ever been as well and put an end to most of our forward moves in the first 60 mins.

 

[HildoSpur]

I think he is solid but unspectacular. Still finding his feet.

 

[wiggo24]

They offered nothing from that side because their wide players are absolute garbage pal. That doesn’t ignore the fact he was poorly beaten at least three times by said garbage wingers.

It’s not half arsed whatsoever. What are you judging his performance on, then? His primary role in the team is to defend and he was crap defensively. The same shit Aurier got thrown under the bus for on here on a weekly basis. It’s you and possibly a few others saying he has a good game, the rest are correctly calling him out for being poor tonight.

Agree with your point and agree that Doherty was poor but actually think McNeil is a really good little player. Basically Burnley's only technical outlet.

 

[SargeantMeatCurtains]

Criticising him tonight is really showing a lack of understanding of the opponent and his role. Dwight McNeil is Burnley's entire supply line. What did he do tonight? Doherty did his job well. People need to stop expecting full backs to do absolutely everything - first job in a game like this is to stop the opposition.

But.... he didn’t? He put the defence under pressure three times and if their wide players were actually capable of doing anything he would’ve been at fault for at least a couple of goals.

 

[carpediem991]

He got beated 1f1 3 seperate times.... just because they didnt score doesnt mean this didnt happen?

True. If we would have lost people would be all over this. Individual judgements should be aside from the result though, good or bad. Only then its fair.

And he was very weak today. Just nothing exciting compared to Sergio.

But as long as it pushes Serges performances I am okay with him. He should be given more time as well.

 

[WiganSpur]

He has plugged a gap for us and his aerial ability is useful but clearly isn't an upgrade on Aurier from the first few matches i've seen of him.

 

[mattdefoe]

Doherty’s forward runs were brilliant he just wasn’t picked out , and pierre was close to doing so.

He put a couple of decent low balls into the box as well, none of this floaters that end up as goal kicks that we have seen elsewhere , no stupid fouls or silly yellows either

We kept a clean sheet to, let him settle ffs