Nuno 'doesn't care' what Martin O'Neill wants from Wolves' Matt Doherty

O’Neill said last month Doherty should ‘drive forward more’ when playing for his country.

But since then the 26-year-old has provided two Wolves assists and scored the winning goal against Crystal Palace, while also being nominated for the PFA’s Player of the Month award for September.

Nuno has been impressed with Doherty’s performances this season and when asked about criticism of Doherty, the Wolves boss said: “Matt has been doing his job since last season.

“He didn’t change, the way he approaches the competitions doing well.

“But he has to do it. What other things and what others want from Matt, I don’t really care.

“What I want is what he has been giving me and his team-mates, because not only in the offensive part, but in the defensive set-pieces he is a very, very important player.”

Doherty joined Wolves in 2010 following a successful trial and has since made 197 appearances in a Wolves shirt in all competitions.

He is one of the few players from the pre-Nuno era who the Wolves boss has kept in his plans.

The Irishman has improved as a player under the Portuguese and was a key figure during their Championship-title winning campaign last year.

However, Nuno feels Doherty can still go up another level.

“Since the beginning, of course, Matt was one of the players last season that made more minutes,” said the Molineux head coach.

“I think he can do better, improve, but he did okay (against Crystal Palace). He did goals last season so let us try to repeat those goals because the team needs them, no matter who scores them, because it is important we achieve what we want.

“We competed well against a very, very tough team (Crystal Palace).”

Doherty will rejoin the Ireland camp during the international break

He will be in search of his first senior debut for Ireland having made two substitute appearances for them.