Matt Doherty insists 'I should be in the squad even if I'm not playing ...
MATT DOHERTY insisted he should be in the Republic of Ireland squad "even if I'm not going to play".
The 32-year-old was left out of the panel by Heimir Hallgrimsson for the UEFA Nations League games against Finland and Greece.
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That came after a previous window in which he started against England but was benched against Greece, with Andrew Omobamidele opted for at right-back.
Doherty had come under fire for his role in Greece's second goal in Dublin, but Hallgrimsson pointed to his lack of playing time at Wolves as reason for his absence from the October squad.
He has made four appearances in the Premier League this season - two of which off the bench - but hasn't featured since the 2-1 loss to Newcastle in September.
He didn't feature at all in their defeat to Manchester City at the weekend, and admitted "I don't really have an argument with things at the moment."
However, Doherty told The42 that he should be in the squad anyway.
He argued: “Obviously I should be in the squad, even if I’m not playing or not going to play I should still obviously be in there.
"But yeah, I’m patient. I wasn’t happy, but I got to spend time with my kids. I do expect to be in the next squad.”
Doherty admitted he felt disrespected during the camp that saw the Republic of Ireland lose 2-0 to both England and Greece.
He started against the Three Lions but was on the bench against Greece despite Seamus Coleman also being out injured, with Andrew Omobamidele preferred at right-back.
And the Dubliner revealed that decision, as well as finding out shortly before kick-off itself, led to him feeling disrespected by Hallgrimsson.
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He added: "“Just looked at the team sheet and see it like that.
"That’s why I felt like that (disrespected) but just looking at it, like, I was the only right back left after Seamus had left.
"If you’re not going to go with the logical decision then I feel like you should have said it to me.
“It was his first squad, so I guess he didn’t really know any of the players.
"I know the season had started and I’m not sure if he’d been over to watch anyone at that point but I guess he was using it as like a scouting mission to see how everybody is.
"How people react to certain things, how people react to not playing or whatever.
“For me to be at my best, everybody can say the same but I’m just thinking of my body, my style of play.
"I need to be playing all of the time, ye know, and that’s why it was disappointing for me because I’d started the season here, then we went into the camp and I needed that just to keep going.
“That’s beneficial for me, it’s beneficial for me coming back to club and then hopefully beneficial for country if I continue to stay and play, ye know, for obviously the next camps because you want me to be playing at my best and I haven’t been able to do that for a while with Ireland.”
