Hollowed cheeks, without a pick of fat, Matt Doherty appears as a lightweight pugilist in those kilogram-shedding hours before the weigh-in.
“I feel pretty fit now,” he said after suffering an MCL injury last April and the toughest preseason imaginable under Antonio Conte’s ruthless approach at Tottenham. “It probably took a little bit longer than expected. I was pretty much available all of pre-season but wasn’t moving that well. But to be honest, the last three or four weeks, I’ve felt back to where I was in training. So it did take a bit longer than I expected. But I’m happy to be fit again.”
Doherty is one of three, maybe four Premier League players expected to feature against Scotland on Saturday night at Hampden Park. It all depends on whether manager Stephen Kenny chooses a defender playing regular football in the Championship or Séamus Coleman or Shane Duffy, who are sitting on the Everton and Fulham benches of late.
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Doherty is expected to return at right wing-back, having been an important contributor in the stop-start revival under Kenny. Emerson Royal was overlooked for the Brazil squad to play Ghana and Tunisia in France this coming week, but the 30-year-old Dubliner cannot budge him from Conte’s team.
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“It’s extremely difficult,” admitted Doherty. “You just have to believe in your own ability and I think that is one of my strengths. I have always believed that I was good enough to be where I am.
“This is especially when things are not going too well. It’s easy to think that you are not good enough or that you should not be there.”
Doherty touches on the plight of Irish players choosing to chase the Premier League dream over guaranteed minutes elsewhere. Mark Travers is the latest to suffer under this roulette existence, as Bournemouth’s interim manager Gary O’Neill dropped the goalkeeper following the 9-0 humiliation at Anfield.
“I think that they have to keep working hard, keep training like I did last season when I worked my socks off every day,” Doherty continued. “My dad always told me that no matter where you play there is always someone watching you. So they just have to keep their head down and keep going because they know that they are good enough and that they will get back in.”
The relentless grind of English football, coupled with a winter World Cup, should present Doherty, Coleman and Duffy opportunities but it equally leaves Gavin Bazunu in the Southampton goal and Nathan Collins at the heart of the Wolverhampton Wanderers defence under constant, unforgiving scrutiny.
The Spurs faithful might be as fickle as the next bunch but they pine on social media for Doherty’s intelligence down the right flank.
“I understand where the manager is coming from, where he thought my fitness was and he was right at the end of the day. I know that he trusts me, I know that once I’m back again, he knows what I can do for him and once he thinks I’m available, I’m sure he’ll give me more time.”
Conte already spoke publicly about Doherty returning to London after a brisk 180 minutes in green against Scotland and Armenia.
“That’s kind of the plan, if Stephen [Kenny] obeys him!”
The Italian’s methodology is effective. Troy Parrott was flying in fitness sessions during the summer tour of South Korea, before his loan switch to Preston, and results speak for themselves as Spurs sit third in the table, unbeaten in seven matches.
“He’s changed the mentality of the whole club. He’s made us feel like winners. We know he’s obviously won a lot in the past and we’re kind of trying to do it.
[ Stephen Kenny facing old dilemma of form versus reputation for Scotland encounterOpens in new window ]
“Personally I’ve felt like that. We have meetings, we have talks where afterwards you feel motivated, you feel like I remember when he first came in, we had a meeting and afterwards, you were ready to run through a wall for him. Look, he’s one of the best managers that has been around so whatever he says we listen to him.”
The repetitive Irish narrative around selection – form versus reputation – must seem a little obsessive from an external viewpoint as, on paper, Scotland are a superior line-up. In all likelihood, Ireland will field six players from the Championship and one from League One in Jason Knight, who failed to get a move away from Derby County in the transfer window.
In stark contrast, Scotland can boast six Premier League regulars in Scott McTominay (Manchester United), Kieran Tierney (Arsenal), Nathan Patterson (Everton), John McGinn (Aston Villa), Billy Gilmour (Brighton) and Che Adams (Southampton) despite the loss of skipper Andy Robertson (Liverpool) to injury. Toss in Celtic duo Greg Taylor and Callum McGregor, who recently rubbed shoulders with Real Madrid in the Champions League, and Saturday’s result should go without saying.
“No teams are blowing us away,” Doherty countered. “If you look at Belgium and Portugal twice, we are giving everybody a run for their money.”
