Wolverhampton Wanderers’ wing-back Matt Doherty can do no wrong at the Molineux given his own adjustment and determination levels in the Premier League, but the same hasn’t quite been true at international level for the Republic of Ireland.
The 26-year-old was largely unfairly picked out by Republic manager Martin O’Neill for his performance against Denmark as covered previously where he spoke about ‘accommodating him’ in a way that many felt was patronising to say the least, even if granted, he was making his full debut.
He got another shot On Tuesday evening as they faced Wales, but it was another poor performance from the side and plenty of Eire fans were happy to defend him believing that he had become too conservative in his efforts owing to their manager’s earlier words.
They're all like, i think they're affraid of getting their ears ripped off by Roy Keane if they make a mistake, so they play the safe ball.#ROIWAL #IRLWAL
— Mick Day (@MickDay99) October 16, 2018
Doherty is very good and offensive for Wolves. Maybe MON is too negative to get the best out of attacking players?
— Adam (@AdLovesCurry) October 16, 2018
Matt Doherty is scared to go forward after O'Neill's claims he's too attacking that time
— Jonto (@Curtis__94) October 16, 2018
Mind blowing tactics , Fights in the camp with players, Arguments with journalists, Hendrick is a Zombie of himself, In form Doherty looked uninterested, Arter Awful, What is the management bringing to the table? Players don't want to play for them, Time for Change #IREWAL pic.twitter.com/Ov85jchZY8
— Dan Hanratty (@TheOne_DH) October 16, 2018
#COYBIG #IRLWAL why have Hendrick Doherty etc stuck so deep, when we actually decided not to defend and attempt to attack natural instinct was visible, need a gameplay that encourages that type of play/ performance,
— Eoin Curran (@eoineenc) October 16, 2018
Given the stark contrast in performances for club and country, and even allowing the adjustment to international level, I wouldn’t say Doherty is the problem as they have a number of players underperforming, so we just have to hope his confidence hasn’t taken a hit.
