How Tottenham's January arrivals helped Doherty rediscover his best form

"Why would I want to go anywhere apart from Tottenham?" Matt Doherty was candid in his post-match interview as Spurs romped to a 5-1 win over Newcastle on Sunday. Following his 2020 arrival from Wolves, Doherty has struggled to win over the Spurs faithful. Managerial change over the last two years as hardly helped him adapt in north London, with Antonio Conte the fourth to take over at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium since his transfer almost two years ago. 

During his time with Wolves, Doherty established himself as a household name in the Premier League, becoming one of the most feared attacking wing-backs in the division. Yet he failed to transfer his Wolves performances to the capital under Jose Mourinho, Ryan Mason and Nuno Espirito Santo, in part due to the trio's preference to play with a four-man defence. 

Many believed that the latter's summer appointment would help Doherty rediscover his best form at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with Nuno at the Molineux helm during his best rated Premier League campaign, yet he didn't start a single game during the Portuguese manager's ill-fated spell in the capital. 

The arrival of Emerson Royal from Barcelona pushed Doherty further down the pecking order and it wasn't until a 2-0 away defeat at Chelsea in January that the defender started his first league game of the season. Doherty was heavily linked with a move away from Spurs at the turn of the year, something he insists was never the case, stating on Sunday: "From my point of view I was led to believe that I wasn’t going anywhere." 

Supporters may have been happy to see the back of him in January, yet fast forward to the present day and he's gone from zero to hero in north London. Indeed, no longer referred to as Doherty, some quarters of the fanbase have since nicknamed the 30-year-old 'Dohberto Carlos'. Conte's switch to a three-man defence plays to his strengths, while the additions of Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur in January has aided Doherty's rise to one of Spurs' most important players. 

By starting from the right, Kulusevski's preference to drift inside opens up space for Doherty to get into threatening areas. Six goals and assists combined is the fourth best of all Spurs in the Premier League in 2022, while a WhoScored rating of 7.22 is behind only Harry Kane (7.85) and Son Heung-Min (7.65) this year. 

Rightly so, Kulusevski has earned ample plaudits for his impact in north London, and it's the willingness to cut in from the right onto his left that not only adds an additional goal threat when Kane does drop deep, but means Doherty has ample space to utilise the attacking side to his game. Mourinho and, initially, Conte favoured Lucas Moura's work rate, yet in more often than not breaking down the right, this would limit the right wing-back's influence as defenders were naturally drawn to this side to deny the Brazilian from testing the goal or creating for others, which saw Spurs attacks break down. 

Yet since both Kulusevski and Doherty both became first team regulars from the Leeds win onwards, the latter has been Spurs' fourth most creative player, creating seven goalscoring chances in the last six league outings. For context, across his previous 25 league appearances since joining from Wolves, Doherty made 19 key passes, with the number of key passes per game rising from 0.8 to 1.2. It's negligible, of course, but an increase nonetheless. 

And it's not just the signing of Kulusevski that has benefitted Doherty down the flank, but the arrival of Bentancur, too. Previously, Spurs lacked a central midfielder to advance and spread the play from the middle of the park, however the Uruguayan has stepped into the side with ease and Conte's side are all the better for it. Bentancur's ability to consistently pick out a teammate from range means a long ball accuracy of 75% is the best of all Spurs players in the Premier League this season. 

When the wing-backs push on, Bentancur is able to play the ball into their path, which enables Spurs to hurt opponents down the flanks, with the team now deemed to be very strong at 'attacking down the wings', and in particular down the right. A higher proportion of their attacks do come down the right (39%), that in itself the third best in England's top tier. Now able to maximise the offensive side to his game with his teammates prepared to carry out the defensive duties, Doherty is thriving with the responsibility of getting into the final third more regularly and Spurs are all the better for 'Dohberto Carlos' rediscovering his best form.