Whatās the problem with him? I thought he was one of our better players.
Yeah
He hasnāt tried a leg in about 3 years
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That home game against Greece at the of the season before last where he got sent off on purpose late on so he could miss the second game of the double header & fuck off on holidays early should have definitively been the end of him.
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Iād say heāll be booed even louder than the last day it if gets brought on on Thursday
What?
Iām thinking back to when he moved to Spurs, one of the few Irish players at a ābigā club and a shame himself and Coleman basically played the same position as they were two of our best players.
Have I got that wrong?
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Yes
I heard something on a podcast or a radio programme roughly three years ago which I wouldnāt have a clue is true or not but stuck out to me as something that sounded truthy - which was that at Wolves Doherty was the beneficiary of a well rehearsed system where he had a guy beside him, Den Doncker, who would either hold the fort defensively while Doherty bombed forward, or would interchange and go wide right while Doherty went āinsideā going forward. Den Doncker enabled Doherty to be an āinverted wingerā, whatever that means, and he would cover him defensively. This worked out very well for Wolves and they finished 7th two seasons in a row. Doherty and Den Doncker played 71 games together, winning 35 and losing only 14, the remaining 22 either being draws or abandoned due to hooliganism/thunder and lightning/snow/sudden death of a player.
When Doherty went to Spurs, despite having the same manager moving with him he didnāt have Den Doncker and things went to pot for him. Neither did he have Den Doncker with him with Ireland. Without his mate on whom he was entirely dependent, Doherty was effectively Samson without the long hair.
I have no idea whether this is true or not because I donāt actually watch football but Iāve always subconsciously understood this to be the truth about Doherty.
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He also had that big burly winger ahead of him who was like a 100 metre sprinter - Traore? Which afforded Doherty a lot of space as well as teams had to drop off due to his pace
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That may be true too. I donāt watch football and I never watched Wolves apart from the last 20 minutes once when they beat Abu Dhabi at Christmas 2019 which pretty much ended any chance Abu Dhabi had of catching Liverpool.
Ogbene had serious pace too which you think would have afforded Doherty some latitude (Ger Canning) to bomb forward with Ireland but unfortunately Ogbeneās career is finished now.
I think in Dohertyās defence Coleman was considered the figurehead of the team because he was once a very good player and is a good, solid lad (copyright Johnny Giles) and it was almost seen as a sacred cow who it would have been sacrilege to remove in favour of Doherty so what happened is Doherty kept getting shunted into positions he wasnāt suited to.
On the couple of occasions he was given licence to bomb forward he did so to good effect (v Denmark in 2019 and Portugal in 2021 when he played as a sort of left wing back in a 3-5-2 where Ireland did very well on the break.
Doherty also decided heād made it at Spurs and gave up
He went to Atletico Madrid too. Iām not sure if he even got a minute of game time.
A very shit version of Kieran Trippier.
Athletico signed him and he didnāt play one minute in 6 months.
He is a good technical footballer with zero athleticism who was fortunate to play next to 50 cap and 100 Cap Portugal midfielders and a Spanish international flying machine who played for Barcelona.
Trippier is a good athlete and excellent footballer. Made a Champions League final with Spurs, Won a La Liga, played in the final of a major tournament. Itās hard to even compare them, itās a different level.
Trippier strikes me as the ultimate hard nosed professional who probably has no interest in politics but would vote Tory because he has the Fisher Price understanding that their āethosā of self reliance chimes with his gruff, uncompromising will to self improve.
āIām a fackinā self made man, why the fack should I have to give my money away to anybody.ā
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I generally think thereās an over emphasis on SCHEME / system in my beloved gridiron. Player A canāt be traded to Franchise B because he wonāt get the scheme etc etc. But I think itās usually way too far the other way in association football, especially amongst us casual observers. You get people clamouring for players to be played for their international side because of club displays without taking into account the differences in personnel & tactics between the teams. Dohertyās set up at Wolves was a very good example. You also get this when clubs buy players clearly unsuited to them, e.g., a striker whoās thrived player for a counter attacking side because heās fast and brilliant at timing runs & accelerating into space being bought by a side who monopolise possession, have a slow build up & just probe on the edge of the opponentsā box.
Probably still on the FAI payroll
https://twitter.com/irelandfootball/status/1856321451701248341?s=46&t=YOfhVM10W0bcyIiYSLI3Wg
The āRabbi Keaneā in the comments brought a wry smile to me
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How much did he charge for that.