Matt Doherty @ Atletico Madrid

[Mark_147]

if we were playing against Mane or Sterling we'd play Aurier for the reasons you state.

but against Burnley their biggest threat is aerial so we played Doherty and Davies which negated it. Also, in tight games, an unenforced error is also less likely with these two.

The clean sheet (and their historical assists from that position) backs up Burnleys lack of effectiveness from beating a man and going on to score.

Mourinho made a tactical decision to use our FBs to counteract Burnleys strengths and it worked.

no-one is going to argue that it would be great to have FBs who could dominate in the air, be great defensively, and provide plenty going forward, but we do have FBs who have elements of these that can be played depending on the situation and Doherty showed those last night.

The problem is how many teams in the Premier league play like Burnley, and I'm not sure why we've bought a RWB and have decided to try and convert him into a full back at the age of almost 29. He's a RWB because he is better going forward than defending so I'm unconvinced at this stage of his career he can be converted into a competent FB. Yesterday instead of playing to our strengths we played to Burnleys strengths, we could of just played Davies LCB and played Reguilón and Doherty as wingbacks if we were so concerned about set pieces.

 

[DogsOfWar]

The problem is how many teams in the Premier league play like Burnley, and I'm not sure why we've bought a RWB and have decided to try and convert him into a full back at the age of almost 29. He's a RWB because he is better going forward than defending so I'm unconvinced at this stage of his career he can be converted into a competent FB. Yesterday instead of playing to our strengths we played to Burnleys strengths, we could of just played Davies LCB and played Reguilón and Doherty as wingbacks if we were so concerned about set pieces.

But then we'd have lost a wide attacker or a CM.
Mourinho set up with a defensive block of six players to negate Burnleys strengths.
that left Kane, Son, Moura, and Tanguy to conjure up a goal between them which they did.

I remember Jose setting up against Leicester last year to negate the threat of Vardy and getting stick for it despite winning.
Mourinho is about results and is happy to give opposition teams respect if he thinks their strengths deserve it and a bank of 4 defenders who are good in the air is just part of that.

 

[Mark_147]

But then we'd have lost a wide attacker or a CM.
Mourinho set up with a defensive block of six players to negate Burnleys strengths.
that left Kane, Son, Moura, and Tanguy to conjure up a goal between them which they did.

I remember Jose setting up against Leicester last year to negate the threat of Vardy and getting stick for it despite winning.
Mourinho is about results and is happy to give opposition teams respect if he thinks their strengths deserve it and a bank of 4 defenders who are good in the air is just part of that.

If we had played 352 we would of still of had hojbjberg, Ndombele and Sissoko in midfield with kane and son up front. Bearing in mind Lucas was completely ineffective the width would of been better served coming from Reguilón and Doherty. I do recall mourinho getting a lot of plaudits for our performance against Leicester last season, from myself included.

 

[tiger666]

He has really dark hair but his beard is ginger oddly.

Think he needs to touch up his beard up when he does his hair.

You can tell him. Not sure I've seen a player look so angry all the time.

 

[agrdavidsfan]

The sad part is he didn’t play tonight which means he probably starts the weekend ffs

 

[glacierSpurs]

The sad part is he didn’t play tonight which means he probably starts the weekend ffs

Oh come on, is not like he's such poor player and Aurier performed admirably well today. Both of them can have great games and both of them can have stinkers.

 

[mattdefoe]

The sad part is he didn’t play tonight which means he probably starts the weekend ffs

What are you on about ?

This forum was crying out for a new right back with all of Aurier mistakes the last few years . Of course he starts ffs

 

[Timberwolf]

He's the one signing I wanted to praise due to the cheap price but couldn't quite make sense of. He's a specialist wing back being forced to play as more of a sitting fullback because... he's tall and strong?

I think the surprise Reguilon signing actually ruined Jose's plans for Doherty as I suspect the original idea was to do the lop-sided FBs with Davies on the left and Doherty pushing really high up on the right (see the Everton game). Overall we're still much better off with Reguilon but Doherty now looks almost redundant as a result as he can't do what he's best at.

 

[dtxspurs]

Not a fan in a back 4.

 

[Mornstar]

Not a fan full stop (based on the complete dross I've seen from him so far)

 

[BringBack_leGin]

Not a fan full stop (based on the complete dross I've seen from him so far)

Wow

 

[bubble07]

He has been poo so far there’s no point getting away from that but still think he will come good

 

[Laboog]

I know Wolves fans love him but even they admitted his defense was awful. It just worked in their system. I have to say they are correct so far. He is a liability in defense, worse than Aurier atm I’d say.

 

[tiger666]

Yeah it's Doherty and Bergwijn. Early days etc but seeing nothing in either of them yet.

 

[TheVoiceofReason]

I know Wolves fans love him but even they admitted his defense was awful. It just worked in their system. I have to say they are correct so far. He is a liability in defense, worse than Aurier atm I’d say.

Yeah both quite similar players but Aurier for me is better in both attack and defence, but is capable of stupid errors, which Doherty seems less prone too.

 

[TheTanguy]

Thought it was an 'ok' signing and he will probably improve, but until now everything he does screams midtable for me. Whereas Reguilon is a genuine quality full-back who really adds something to the team.

 

[thebenjamin]

Defended him last week but absolute shite today.

 

[JCRD]

He has been a bit shit and Aurier is definitely first choice ahead of him particualrly from an attackign sense

I know some have said we arent playing him in his correct position - then why the fuck did we buy him and not buy someone who does play in our preferred system?

I dont blame Doherty at all because im sure he is way better than what he has shown so far

 

[yojambo]

Contrast his and Lamptey's performances. Needs to up his game massively imo.

 

[DiVaio]

I know some have said we arent playing him in his correct position - then why the fuck did we buy him and not buy someone who does play in our preferred system?

Because we signed him and he would play in his preferred system, then we had an opportunity to buy Reguilon