Matt Doherty spent three seasons under Nuno at Wolves and has nothing but praise for him.
Follow Us
Tottenham Hotspur defender Matt Doherty has hailed recently appointed manager Nuno Espirito Santo as a world-class coach. Doherty spent three seasons under Nuno at Wolves, with the manager making his presence felt. The Republic of Ireland defender had already been at Wolves for seven years when the former Valencia manager arrived ahead of the 2017/18 season. Doherty impressed under Nuno, playing 142 of 157 matches in the next three seasons. Wolves lifted the Championship in his first season, finished seventh on their return to the Premier League. They further reached the semi-final of the FA Cup in 2018/19 and finished seventh again in 2019/20, with the latter witnessing their entry in the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
“I’ve said over the years that I’ve nothing but praise for Nuno, he’s a world-class coach and his backroom staff are world-class as well, and I maintain that, that doesn’t change and we’re very fortunate to have him here,” said Doherty as quoted by Tottenham Hotspur’s official website.
“We had a good relationship at Wolves. He had an immediate impact, winning the league (Championship) with 99 points in the first season and then going back-to-back seventh-place finishes and getting into Europe. He’s had nothing but success so far in England and with the set-up, facilities and quality of player we have here, I’m sure it will be successful for him. Players can expect good training sessions. We’re going to have to work hard. You’ll see he’s quite hands-on on the training pitch, going around giving little bits of advice to players, what he wants to see from them,” he added.
Doherty termed Nuno as a manager who places great emphasis on fitness.
“It will be a tough pre-season, but not unbearable! His backroom staff know exactly what they are doing, so they will push us to the limit and just when we feel we’re going to fall down, they will give us a rest day or an afternoon off and we’ll be able to recharge our batteries. We’ve a long pre-season ahead of us, but he’ll have us in shape by the first game of the season.”
“At the start of my career, you were dreading it. That’s probably because you were a bit younger, so you don’t do any training in the summer and just do what you want, come back completely empty of any legs or any energy. But the older you get, you start to do a bit more, you look after yourself a bit more, you have families, so you are not out partying every summer like you would when you’re younger. Now, I was quite looking forward to it. Some people had six weeks, I had four, it’s quite a long time to be off. By the end of it, you’ve had your holidays, you’ve had your rest time and you want to get back to work. You are desperate to get back on the pitch,” he concluded.
It will be interesting to see if Tottenham Hotspur succeed are able to make a confident start under the former Wolves manager.
