Matt Doherty has struggled at Spurs in recent months. Having started the campaign as the club's first choice right back, he has fallen out of favour under Jose Mourinho in recent times.
Serge Aurier has seen the majority of minutes on the right side of defence, with the Irishman barely featuring for until the last couple of weeks. He even came in for some harsh criticism from Roy Keane last week.
However, Mourinho said earlier this week that he is happy with Doherty's contributions. Former Ireland international Stephen Elliott has also backed the player to find his best form over the rest of the season.
Speaking on RTE's Saturday Sport, Elliott said he is hopeful that Doherty can rediscover the form that made him so effective at Wolves.
I think he has what it takes to turn things around, and hopefully it won’t be long before we saw the Matt Doherty we saw at Wolves.
The way Wolves play, it really suited the way Matt Doherty played. "It suited his game and his marauding runs down the right that we have become accustomed to over the past couple of years.
Spurs set up quite differently.
Jose Mourinho tends not to be as expansive. Doherty has missed out on game time because of the way Mourinho plays. You only have to look at Gareth Bale’s situation when he arrived back at the club; Mourinho doesn’t really care who you are, if you don’t suit the way he wants to play, you don’t play...
It’s been a difficult first season, but Matt’s a confident lad and I’m sure he is trying to adjust his game to fit in a bit better to the way the manager wants him to play and hopefully he can turn things around.
From an Ireland point of view, you want him playing because he is one of our biggest players at the moment.
Doherty will be in the Ireland squad for the World Cup qualifiers later this month, but it will be interesting to see if he keeps his place at right back in the team considering Seamus Coleman's strong recent form for Everton.
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