Calmness and trust key to Toon turn around - Matt Doherty
Mon 04 April 2022, 15:30|
Tottenham Hotspur
Matt Doherty reiterated Antonio Conte’s appraisal of the calmness of the team on our way to delivering a 5-1 victory against Newcastle United in the Premier League on Sunday.
The first 40 minutes were frustrating as we dominated possession but couldn’t pick many holes in Newcastle’s packed defence, only for the visitors to then open the scoring via a free-kick from Fabian Schar.
Crucially, Ben Davies found an immediate response from Heung-Min Son’s cross to level it just before half-time, and when wing-back Matt sprinted 50 yards to head home Harry Kane’s cross three minutes into the second half, the floodgates opened. It was soon 4-1 with Sonny and Emerson Royal on target before Steven Bergwijn slotted home a late fifth.
It could have been more as we made it three wins on the trot in the Premier League and five in our last six to move ahead of Arsenal into fourth.
They scored first, and it wasn’t a problem for us, We thought, ‘okay that’s fine, let’s just get back on it and keep playing’
“The first 45 was... they played well, and kind of nullified us,” reflected Matt, who has now started our last seven matches. “We didn't have clear pictures in our head. We just said, second half, ‘stay calm, trust our style of play, trust we’ll get the chances’, and the second half was probably the most fun I’ve had in a while. It looked like we were going to score almost every time we went forward!
“The way we responded... I think it’s a sign that our heads don’t drop. They scored first, and it wasn’t a problem for us, We thought, ‘okay that’s fine, let’s just get back on it and keep playing’.
“Obviously, it helps when you score pretty quickly after that, so going into half time, 1-1, we were comfortable with that. Newcastle have some good players, but in the second half we blew them away and I think you can tell by the atmosphere, it was really exciting.”
As for his goal, Matt was just crossing half-way when Harry Kane picked up the ball on the right, a few seconds later, he’d stooped to head us into the lead from Harry’s pinpoint cross.
“I knew once ‘H’ had the ball, if I made a run... I’ll give H credit, because it looked like it was just a cross for Sonny, but I knew at the time he was trying to pick me out at the far post, and I just felt like it was going to come through, so I kept making the run!
“I didn’t see it go in! I headed it down and you just hear everybody celebrating, but, yes, when H is on the ball like that, you keep making runs because he’ll pick you out, most times. He’s the best player in the Premier League, for me. He’s got the best passing, the best finishing, just the best everything.”
The pair play golf together and it was pointed out to Matt that Harry was pinging golf-like passes around the pitch at the moment. “And in golf, he’s the best player as well!” he added. “Do you know how annoying that is? And the fact that I’ve just said that on camera as well... he hits the ball miles!”
