Celtic’s Shane Duffy applauds Tottenham star Matt Doherty after playing out of position

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Celtic defender Shane Duffy has been quoted by Balls.ie as heaping enormous praise on Tottenham Hotspur star Matt Doherty for the latter’s display on Sunday afternoon against Wales – as the Spurs ace played out of position at centre-back.

Doherty, 28, joined Tottenham for a fee of £15million (Standard) from Wolverhampton Wanderers in the summer and has since clocked up five appearances for Jose Mourinho’s side – as he continues to battle for the right-back slot with Serge Aurier.

The defender, who played over 300 times for Wolves in all competitions, is a regular in Ireland’s side and clocked up his 13th cap for his country on Sunday – as Ireland played out a tightly-contested 0-0 draw against Wales in the Nations League.

That is, despite Doherty playing at centre-back alongside on-loan Celtic man Duffy in a new position for the ex-Wolves flyer. Duffy heaped praise on the Tottenham man, though he did claim that he had lost his voice due to shouting at Doherty

“I thought he was brilliant. He was great, he did everything that he had to do. He knows the defensive side of the game and he’s getting better every game as well,” Doherty said. “He fit in great. My voice is gone shouting at him.

“Listen, it’s a completely different role to what he’s played before. But it’s good for us that we know we can play him there. Hopefully we don’t need him there because we would rather have him at right back. He did a job for us, so fair play to him.”

TBR’s view – Could Doherty at CB provide Tottenham with an option?

Spurs are trying to sign a centre-back. After missing out on Inter Milan ace Milan Skriniar, Spurs are trying to bring in Swansea City ace Joe Rodon – as per reports. Rodon also kept a clean sheet on Sunday, against Ireland.

But do Spurs need to sign a player? Or does Doherty’s Sunday efforts show that Spurs have a centre-back option that they did not previously know about? If Doherty continues to impress at centre-back, if given the chance to do so, he could save Spurs some money.