It was not a debut to savour for Matt Doherty.

The Dubliner pulled on a Spurs shirt for the first time following his £15m move from Wolves but the afternoon ended in a highly disappointing 1-0 defeat to a vibrant Everton.

Afterwards, Doherty's new boss Jose Mourinho was frank in his assessment of the full-back's performance.

"You can, for example, look to Doherty, a player normally in incredible condition," he said. 

"He didn't have pre-season. He went direct from holidays to national team matches, no pre-season at all, not one single training session. He played two consecutive matches.

"Today, he was not Matt Doherty like he normally is."

Doherty still showed positive flashes on Sunday however and former Republic of Ireland and Tottenham defender Stephen Kelly is confident he'll come good in London.

"From an Irish point of view, in the clash of the full-backs, I think it's safe to say Seamus [Coleman] came out on top," Kely told RTÉ 2fm's Game On

"I don't think [Mourinho] was singling Matt out, I think he was more making an excuse for why he didn't perform to the level we've seen him and what we expect of him.

"Granted it was a slightly different position than what he played at Wolves because he's a wing-back not a full-back. He's usually got a marauding role, getting forward, linking up play, breaking into the box, pressing high up the pitch.

"He wasn't able to do that in the same way at the weekend. He hasn't had a pre-season, he has gone straight into games with Ireland which were probably deflating in some sense because it was his opportunity to come in and it was a fresh start for him to play for Ireland.

"The games weren't exactly exhilarating, they were slightly disappointing from a whole perspective. Then he'd to go straight to Tottenham and was thrust into the first team. The manager is right, he hasn't had much game time and we expect a lot more from him.

"As a full-back... he will get forward, he'll bob on as well, but he'll have to adjust to that role. He's more than capable. He's definitely going to fit in there really well but it will take time to adjust."

Kelly was less upbeat about his old side's overall display though.

Spurs simply never got going, deservedly losing to Carlo Ancelotti's Toffees, who in contrast  were full of creativity and energy.

"People don't like the moany Mourinho, the one that comes on and complains about everything, but I think he was pretty apt in what he said," Kelly added. 

"He pointed put that they were off the pace, they didn't press, they were lacklustre. They'll be very disappointed with how they started the season." 

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