Antonio Conte has said that every Tottenham Hotspur player should use Ireland's Matt Doherty as an example for everyone at the club.
Doherty struggled at Spurs after moving from Wolves and had been touted with a move back to his old club, but the Ireland fullback has found a new lease of life under Italian Antonio Conte.
The 30-year-old has directly contributed towards six goals (2 goals, 4 assists) in his last six Premier League games and scored against Newcastle in the 5-1 win last weekend.
Doherty speaking after the game said:
“I thought if I keep training hard and I keep doing what the manager wants the opportunity would come and it would be up to me to grasp the opportunity, and at the moment I seem to be doing that well.
Now Conte has revealed that Doherty was not in plans initially, but has now said that the Irishman should be someone to look up to.
I’m absolutely delighted for Matt Doherty. This is what Conte said about him. 👇 pic.twitter.com/0AhriJdAHs
— LJ1882 (@lazqetjohnson) April 7, 2022
"Matthew is the typical player that is showing big improvement,” Conte said.
"If you remember at the start he didn't play a lot with me because at that moment I think he didn't deserve to play.
"Then he worked very hard. He is a really good guy and in every training session you see the desire and the will to improve himself," the Italian said today.
"He has a great mentality, many times when players don't play a lot they go down mentally. Instead he has shown me to be strong and shown me 'I do what you want, I am going to improve and when I am ready I want to play'.
"He has shown me that not with talking, but with attitude and behaviour. He is playing very well and with great confidence and I am very happy for him. It's a good example for everyone," Conte added.
He started both the Belgium and Lithuania games last month.
Doherty will now try to keep his excellent form up and solidify his place in Stephen Kenny's side for the Ukraine, Armenia and Scotland games coming up in June.
