A FIRST EVER Premier League goal and now a reward for his superb form in the month of September.
It’s been a good couple of days for Irish defender Matt Doherty. He got Wolves off to a flying start in October when netting the only goal of the game on Saturday to secure a 1-0 win away to Crystal Palace.
And that was a continuation of his impressive start to the Premier League season that has seen him voted September’s PFA Player of the Month.
Wolves / Twitter
Wolves / Twitter / Twitter
The 26-year-old received 39% of the vote with Chelsea’s Eden Hazard in second place on 26% and Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette in third on 18%.
Wolves picked up 10 points out of a possible 12 in September with victories over West Ham, Burnley and Southampton – games where they all kept clean sheets – and a 1-1 draw away to Man United. Doherty’s attacking play yielded assists for goals against Burnley and Southampton.
It’s all good news at club level for the Dublin native who has helped Wolves climb to seventh in the Premier League table.
Now he just needs that international recognition, still awaiting a first competitive appearance after coming on as a sub in three friendlies to date for Ireland.
With a Nations League double-bill coming up at the Aviva Stadium against Denmark on Saturday and Wales next Tuesday, Doherty could not have done much more to force his way into the thoughts of manager Martin O’Neill.
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Really emphasises how bad an international management team we have at the moment.
@Seán Garvey: so you think they should drop Coleman for him?
@Colm O’Donnell: he plays left back also
@Colm O’Donnell: Coleman is injured for the next internationals and Chris is had a shocker against arsenal.. Doherty has the start the next 2!
@Declan O’Leary: he plays right back for Wolves and is getting all this praise as a right back. Just because he can play left back, doesn’t mean he’s good at it! Having said that, I think he will get his chance in these games. He’s played 8 games in the Premier League and everyone is giving out that O Neill hasn’t played him yet when he had only played 4 PL games at the last international break!
@Colm O’Donnell: Colm I think the point is that Doherty was one of the best players in the championship last season – while Christie was in and out at Fulham in same division and yet Christie played every game (indeed Doherty didn’t make the final squad on occasion). You didn’t need to see him in premiership to see he was worth a look, particularly when we didn’t have any other fit right back playing at a higher level than him. However, since then there has been lots of opportunity to try Doherty out, but O’Neill seems to have not taken the opportunity to see him for long periods – including against Poland – when Coleman was again out.
He isn’t better than Coleman but it’s crazy that he hasn’t been given a proper chance before now. And embarrassing our manager couldn’t see the potential.
@Colm O’Donnell: Come off it. He can also play left back. He could also deputise in Coleman’s absence, which Christie has been picked to do instead. He is playing right wing back so I could also hazard a guess he wouldn’t be too bad on the right wing.
@Augustus hoop: separately he won a wolves player of the year a few years ago playing left back….. no one is saying it’s his best position, but he should have been given a go at playing there before now.
@Colm O’Donnell: he scored his goal from right midfield this weekend. He wasn’t a “right full” so to speak as there were three at the back. He should be in the team, no question. Christie played NINETY minutes against arsenal and was diabolical. He couldn’t even run on to a one two in the first half when Fulham were in the game. And he gets a starting place. It’s belligerence on behalf of the senior management team not to give the guy a look in
@Seán Garvey: so you would have started him v Wales ahead of Coleman even though he had actually been dropped by Wolves a couple of weeks previously? You sound like a managerial genius
@Tomás Fenton: what are you talking about, he hasn’t been dropped by wolves at all! Played every game – they have named the same side for all 8 games this season.
To answer the question above – absolutely 100%, Coleman should be dropped for Doherty if he was fit and it was a straight choice between them. Right now, Doherty is a much better player. Coleman has actually been poor this season when he has played and many Everton fans suggesting he should be dropped.
O Neill is a dinosaur and he should be hammered for the fact that a player like Doherty has only 3 caps.
You’d be a long time waiting for Cyrus Christie or Enda Stevens to win a PFA player of the month award, yet I wouldn’t be surprised to see both of them start ahead of Doherty next week!
The reason he won’t be picked for Ireland is he can pass the ball
Still won’t get a game for Ireland.
The articles doesnt say how cyrus christie got on in that vote…?
@Augustus hoop: It’s a misleading title for an award. It should be titled ‘Best player of the month’. Then, based on his performance against Arsenal, Christie would be in the running for this month’s ‘Worst player of the month’.
@EnKy: I quite like Christie and definitely think he’s been a scapegoat for some poor Irish performances – he’s really as bad as people say (tho I didn’t see yesterday’s game). But Doherty not even getting a chance is madness
@Augustus hoop: sorry I mean to say he’s really not as bad as people say
@Augustus hoop: You make some good points.I hope your cough gets better.
Sooner O Neill goes the better, then we can get Doherty into the team, if he can’t see a good player staring him in the face, should he be manager? Besides Coleman and Arter, how many Irish players are playing regularly in Premier League….
@running man: Duffy, Christie, Hendrick, Ward
@running man: Robbie Brady would be playing regularly in the Premier League if he hadn’t been injured but you make valid points. I’m not a big O’Neill fan but Erikssen is injured for Denmark and Bale injured for Wales so six points from those two games are a possibility. That would only paper over the cracks in my opinion though.