‘He’s on another level — top quality’ – Premier League star compared to legendary Johan Cruyff leaving team-mate in awe

WOLVES defender Matt Doherty claims Brazilian star Matheus Cunha  is ‘Cruyff-like’ at times.

Doherty could start today against former club Tottenham — after coming on as a late sub there on his first return last season.

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And the 32-year-old says Wolves are revitalised after two wins out of two for new boss Vitor Pereira took them out of the bottom three over Christmas.

But Doherty says Cunha is playing a huge part after dazzling in the 2-0 Boxing Day win over visitors Manchester United.

As well as scoring direct from a corner and making the second, the 25-year-old forward produced a string of touches that had fans on their feet — and drew comparisons with Dutch legend Johan Cruyff.

Doherty said: “He’s on another level — it’s top quality, when he’s confident, like that. It’s hard to play against.

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“I was saying to the other lads, it’s difficult to make the game look that easy at times.

“There’s maybe more than a handful in this league who can make it look that easy. And he’s one of them.

“We’re fortunate to have him. Against Manchester United, he was just on it all game.

“He was taking balls out of the sky, he was Cryuff-like — doing things you would normally be expecting Manchester United players to do.

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“It’s not showboating. That’s his way of getting out of any pressure.

“You’re not showboating when it’s 0-0 — that’s just his brain working better than everyone else’s.”

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Cunha is still facing a potential Premier League ban following his post-match bust-up with an Ipswich security guard after Wolves’ home loss on December 14.

That could be a blow as Doherty hopes Wanderers can pull clear of relegation danger by becoming the kings of swing. 

Wolves’ in-swinging corners are being used as a weapon — and Cunha netted direct against United, just as Spurs did earlier in the month in the Carabao Cup.

Doherty says Wolves are working on set-pieces — scoring from them and not conceding either.

And he was at the centre of Cunha’s goal against United, with keeper Andre Onana claiming the defender had impeded him.

Doherty was having none of that, though, and said: “Football’s a contact sport, isn’t it? Keepers are not untouchable.

“I understand sometimes if a keeper’s in the air and he gets nudged and it’s a foul because of that.

“But no, I was just there to block — and I think he was behind me anyway.

“There was little bit of contact but it just flew in the far corner. That can happen for a goalkeeper as well, it’s tough for them.

“We are practising set-pieces, I assume everybody knows that. But that’s what we were going for at the corner.

“We were going to put it right in on top of it and see what happens.

“It also happened in the first half and I don’t know how the keeper kept it out, I didn’t believe it.

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"Set-pieces are a huge part of the game. They can win those matches. They were causing us problems, and we were losing a lot of games from it.

“So now we’ve stopped conceding at set-pieces, and we seem to be winning games.”

Johan Cruyff’s career stats

The man who invented the ‘Cruyff Turn’ also won three Ballon d’Or’s…

• Ajax, 1964-1973: 329 games, 257 goals

• Barcelona, 1973-1978: 227 games, 85 goals

• Los Angeles Aztecs, 1979: 26 games, 15 goals

• Washington Diplomats, 1980: 26 games, 10 goals

• Levante, 1980-1981: 10 games, 2 goals

• Washington Diplomats, 1981: 5 games, 2 goals

• Ajax, 1981-1983: 46 games, 16 goals

• Feyenoord, 1983-1984: 44 games, 13 goals

• Netherlands, 1966-1977: 48 games, 33 goals

Trophies

• Ajax: Eredivisie x8, Dutch Cup x5, European Cup x3, European Super Cup, Intercontinental Cup

• Barcelona: La Liga, Copa del Rey

• Feyenoord: Eredivisie, Dutch Cup

Managerial career

• Ajax, 1985-1988: P117 W86 D10 L21

• Barcelona, 1988-1996: P430 W250 D97 L83

• Catalonia, 2009-2013: P4 W2 D2 L0

Trophies

• Ajax: Dutch Cup x2, European Cup Winners’ Cup

• Barcelona: La Liga x4, Copa del Rey, Spanish Super Cup x3, European Cup, European Cup Winners’ Cup, European Super Cup