Wolves beat Fulham 4-1 on Saturday in what was the most uplifting result for the club in a very long time.
Matheus Cunha inspired Wolves to victory at Craven Cottage, scoring another two goals and providing an assist for Joao Gomes.
Wolves’ win was extremely impressive for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Fulham have been really good this season and were seventh in the league before the game.
Secondly, Wolves didn’t have Santiago Bueno or Craig Dawson in their backline, with both players not fully fit. Neither player made the bench, with Alfie Pond getting the call to be a substitute.
Gary O’Neil decided to go with Mario Lemina and Toti Gomes has a pairing – and Matt Doherty, a player who may have felt there was a good chance he’d play – started on the bench again.
Matt Doherty not starting for Wolves against Fulham will have stung
Bueno was a doubt for Wolves to face Fulham, and this surely meant Doherty was in contention to start.
With Dawson also injured, the Republic of Ireland international may have felt even better about playing.
But the Wolves manager overlooked him once again, and kept with a back four, using Toti and Lemina.
It had been possible for O’Neil to switch to a back three, with Doherty to operate on the right of a three, with Semedo as the right wing-back.
But Doherty did not start, and came on during the dying embers of the game as a winger. He replaced Jean-Ricner Bellegarde.
With two defensive absentees, Doherty would surely have hoped to play from the start at Craven Cottage. The fact he didn’t could be fairly telling.
Doherty’s Wolves career could be in danger amid severe lack of game time
Doherty has played just a handful of minutes for Wolves in the last couple of wins against Fulham and Southampton, and didn’t play at all in any of the six Premier League matches before.
It seems clear right now that O’Neil doesn’t wholly trust Doherty. It’s quite telling that he went for a back two of Lemina and Toti against Fulham, rather than add £50,000-a-week star Doherty in to make a back three.
Interestingly, he hasn’t played in the league since the game with Newcastle United, after which O’Neil sent a subtle warning to Doherty after his poor defending against Harvey Barnes, who scored in the game.
Doherty has played just 330 minutes in total for Wolves this season across all competitions. Only Pablo Sarabia, Rodrigo Gomes, Goncalo Guedes, Carlos Forbs, Pedro Lima, Alfie Pond and Boubacar Traore have played fewer.
Last season, Doherty admitted he was disappointed with his game time at Wolves and he remains a fringe player to this day, which might prompt him to consider his future.
He has a contract with Wolves until 2026, but the way things are going at the moment, he may do well to reach the end of it.