Matt Doherty believes Tottenham's players are ready to run through a wall for Antonio Conte and said the Italian spoke to him before he departed for Republic of Ireland duty.
The 30-year-old Irishman had worked hard behind the scenes last season to become Conte's first choice right wing-back at Spurs only for a serious knee injury - rupturing his medial collateral ligament against Aston Villa - to end his campaign early. Doherty admitted during pre-season that he was still feeling his way back from the injury with some pain in his knee and his game time has been limited to just eight minutes since, with late substitute appearances in one Premier League game and one Champions League match.
Conte recently said that he could see Doherty, who he refers to as "Matthew", is improving rapidly on the Hotspur Way training pitches, was looking more like his old self and would come into contention more after the international break. While away with Ireland, Doherty admitted that Tottenham have someone special in charge in the Italian, who has won titles and cups in England and Italy.
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"He's changed the whole mentality of the whole club. He’s made us feel like winners. We know he’s obviously won a lot in the past and we’re kind of trying to do it," said Doherty. "We have meetings, we have talks where afterwards you feel motivated. I remember when he first came in, we had a meeting and afterwards, you were ready to run through a wall for him.
“Look, he’s one of the best managers that has been around, so whatever he says, we listen to him."
Conte is a manic presence on the touchline during matches, constantly charging around, shouting and he celebrated Son Heung-min's first goal against Leicester City at the weekend by leaping into wing-back Ivan Perisic's arms. Doherty admitted that the head coach is slightly more reserved on the training pitches but his passion does still translate to the team.
"He’s probably not as animated on the training pitch, but he is still pretty animated. He just has a lot of passion for what he does and it comes back to us in the way that we are playing and how we press," said the wing-back. "We absolutely love having him as our manager and are pretty fortunate that he is manager of the club."
Doherty said that Conte wanted him to get a couple of matches under his belt for Ireland as they take on Scotland and Armenia in the Nations League to improve his sharpness. The defender is now hoping that his international boss Stephen Kenny obliges.
"That’s exactly what he said, he wants me to come away and try and get two games in," he said. "He said in his press conference that I would be available after the international break fully for selection."
He added with a smile: "That’s the plan – if Stephen obeys him."
Doherty did not make his Ireland debut until he was 26 and has therefore not played in a World Cup or European Championship. It's something he wants to experience before it's too late.
"A lot of us are at that age where there might not be that many more opportunities to get back into a serious competition. Some of us have never been, including myself," he said. "We’re pretty focused. We’ve a set goal that we want to achieve. I think we’re capable."
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