Wolves star makes Celtic “jet lag” suggestion; loved impressive Dublin crowd
Wolves defender Matt Doherty has been speaking after his side’s draw against Celtic.
The Hoops were the better side for long spells at the Aviva Stadium, and led through a Kyogo Furuhashi strike before Matheus Cunha converted a late penalty.
Doherty controversially won that spot-kick after going down under a challenge from Joe Hart.
Wolves did finish the game the stronger of the two sides, and the defender had an interesting theory for why that may have been the case.
“Look, I think Celtic have been in Japan for the last few weeks,” he told Viaplay Sports.
“So maybe they suffered a bit of jet lag. We came on strong at the end. It was a good run out in front of a great crowd on a big pitch so I think everybody is pretty happy.
“I don’t know how many were here today. Maybe close to 30,000 for a friendly.
“You always love playing in the national stadium. Every time you get out here is pretty special even when you’re not playing for your country.”
While Doherty’s jet lag claims may be a little off given that Celtic have been back from Japan for the best part of a week, he is totally right to praise the crowd.
28,241 took in the match with the vast majority of them supporting the Celts.
With the game only being announced 17 days ago, that was a very impressive showing.
Celtic are likely to be backed by similar numbers on Tuesday evening against Athletic Club while Celtic Park will be sold-out next Saturday against Ross County.
Matt Doherty makes honest admissions about his Wolves return
While it might be assumed that the decision to move to Wolves was an easy one for Matt Doherty, it seems that this was not the case. After all, moves involving players returning to their former clubs often fail to work out.
As well as that, things are not all necessarily rosy at Wolves right now. They have sold some important players this summer, many of which have yet to be replaced.
With all of this in mind, it was refreshing to hear Doherty make some very honest comments about his return to the team this afternoon.
After coming off the bench and winning a penalty in their 1-1 friendly draw with Celtic at the Aviva Stadium, he was asked by Viaplay about coming back to Wolves. He was very forthright in his answers on the transfer as well as the bigger issues surrounding the club at the moment.
No, it wasn’t an easy decision purely because I’ve been here before. You’re always wary about going back to somewhere that you’ve been, you don’t want to ruin something that you might have done before.
But then when I spoke to the right people, I spoke to the manager and he really wanted me to come, which obviously helps. You want a manager that believes in you and wants you to play for them.
I guess it looks like an easy decision on the outside, but there was some thinking I had to do…
Look, I don’t think things are perfect behind the scenes at all. As players, there’s literally nothing we can do about it except for going out on the pitch and carrying out whatever the manager wants us to do.
The season isn’t far away, we need to get training, knuckle down, and work hard and see what happens in the transfer window. But for sure, we do need some bodies.
Honest stuff.
Matt Doherty will be hoping that his return to Wolves works out for both himself and the club, but considering the issues he has faced in his career in recent times, he seems to be realistic about the challenges that lie ahead.
Here’s hoping that he can rediscover the form that made him such a brilliant player at Molineux during his previous spell.
