11 | Jeremy Doku - 2025/26

[Craig]

He has been rank since he was needlessly dropped v Brentford. Doesn’t now deserve to play v Villa. Savinho has looked better. Bring in Mahmoush v Villa with Doku to come on if we are chasing the the game.

I did think leaving him out at Brentford was crazy considering he’d just been in his best form. Also seems to be told to stay wide again when we were just seeing him look so much more dangerous when drifting inside. Pep says he’s as good as it gets over 5/10M when one on one against defenders. So it seems strange we’ve stopped seeing him move inside closer to the box again.

Big fan of Doku for his potential and ability to go past defenders. However, there is no disputing he’s been very poor again in recent games. The 2 he’s come against lately in Europe have managed to match him very well. Few fullbacks in Premier League can get close to him when he’s on it.

 

[Tevez City]

I did think leaving him out at Brentford was crazy considering he’d just been in his best form. Also seems to be told to stay wide again when we were just seeing him look so much more dangerous when drifting inside. Pep says he’s as good as it gets over 5/10M when one on one against defenders. So it seems strange we’ve stopped seeing him move inside closer to the box again.

Big fan of Doku for his potential and ability to go past defenders. However, there is no disputing he’s been very poor again in recent games. The 2 he’s come against lately in Europe have managed to match him very well. Few fullbacks in Premier League can get close to him when he’s on it.

It was like when Mancini put Dzeko on the bench after he scored 4 goals against Spurs in their stadium.

 

[Belgian Flash]

Every top winger has overlapping fullbacks he doesn’t. That‘s where it all starts. It’s the same problem every week and it won’t change

Thats not the main problem, the main problem is that he has low engine and exhibits primadonna behaviour. Taking players from a standing start on the left leads nowhere in 99.9 percent of the situations, even if you win the duel.

I watched Madrid yesterday and Vini as erratic as he is and much less natural in his movements, he just doesn't stop running, on and off the ball. Hes so active. Savinho is similar, he gets the ball and starts running at the defense. He receives it while moving. Doku stands, receives the ball, then starts walking toward the defender, then makes the burst one out of five times, the other four is a backpass. And that one time 99 percent leads nowhere, either dispossessed right away, either caught up, or poor cross or a backpass after it.

If hes just more energetic and hustling he would be so much better. Its crazy how some games he is but its like one out of five. Why he doesnt do it the other four I have no idea.

 

[King Jay]

Thats not the main problem, the main problem is that he has low engine and exhibits primadonna behaviour. Taking players from a standing start on the left leads nowhere in 99.9 percent of the situations, even if you win the duel.

I watched Madrid yesterday and Vini as erratic as he is and much less natural in his movements, he just doesn't stop running, on and off the ball. Hes so active. Savinho is similar, he gets the ball and starts running at the defense. He receives it while moving. Doku stands, receives the ball, then starts walking toward the defender, then makes the burst one out of five times, the other four is a backpass. And that one time 99 percent leads nowhere, either dispossessed right away, either caught up, or poor cross or a backpass after it.

If hes just more energetic and hustling he would be so much better. Its crazy how some games he is but its like one out of five. Why he doesnt do it the other four I have no idea.

That’s something I mentioned above. His standing start slows our game down. Before he starts to push - everyone else is back at their position. It’s his biggest weakness but also biggest strength.

 

[JewelZee]

Every top winger has overlapping fullbacks he doesn’t. That‘s where it all starts. It’s the same problem every week and it won’t change

I watch a fair bit of Barca games and there's hardly ever anyone overlapping Yamal or Raphinha. I don't see anyone overlapping Olise or Vinicius Jr. either. These guys take off and go inside or outside at a whim. Doku seems to always want the ball to feet. Funny because on those rare occasions when he runs in behind he's done some damage. Age, experience, talent level or whatever right now our wingers are miles off those of the other elite teams...

 

[HelloCity]

Thats not the main problem, the main problem is that he has low engine and exhibits primadonna behaviour. Taking players from a standing start on the left leads nowhere in 99.9 percent of the situations, even if you win the duel.

I watched Madrid yesterday and Vini as erratic as he is and much less natural in his movements, he just doesn't stop running, on and off the ball. Hes so active. Savinho is similar, he gets the ball and starts running at the defense. He receives it while moving. Doku stands, receives the ball, then starts walking toward the defender, then makes the burst one out of five times, the other four is a backpass. And that one time 99 percent leads nowhere, either dispossessed right away, either caught up, or poor cross or a backpass after it.

If hes just more energetic and hustling he would be so much better. Its crazy how some games he is but its like one out of five. Why he doesnt do it the other four I have no idea.

Is this the real reason the players call him Rude Dog?

I thought it was just because he was a cool dude.

 

[Belgian Flash]

Age, experience, talent level or whatever right now our wingers are miles off those of the other elite teams...

Its by design. Its what the system asks of them. They are basically used as decoys for most of the time. Im pretty sure it would be very similar with any top winger. Their instincts are very restrained. I think they sacrifice a lot of their personal glory for the team. Haaland pretty much creates nothing. Its very hard when you have a guy up top like that.

 

[Belgian Flash]

Is this the real reason the players call him Rude Dog?

I thought it was just because he was a cool dude.

I think they call him rude dog because his style is bustling and looking to terrorize defenders. The primadonna behaviour can be seen primarily in the walking around but also in complaining to teammates that they didn't pass him the ball when he didnt put himself in a position to receive it

 

[big gaz]

It was like when Mancini put Dzeko on the bench after he scored 4 goals against Spurs in their stadium.

Enjoyed that day :-)

 

[Dax777]

Every top winger has overlapping fullbacks he doesn’t. That‘s where it all starts. It’s the same problem every week and it won’t change

He has to vacate the space to open it for an overlapping winger. When he hugs the chalk, he leaves bo opportunity for an overlap, and the play develops too slowly for an underlap

 

[JewelZee]

Its by design. Its what the system asks of them. They are basically used as decoys for most of the time. Im pretty sure it would be very similar with any top winger. Their instincts are very restrained. I think they sacrifice a lot of their personal glory for the team. Haaland pretty much creates nothing. Its very hard when you have a guy up top like that.

I get that some of it may be system related but I find it difficult to believe the likes of Mbappe, Yamal, Vinicius Jr., Kvaratskhelia, Olise, Raphinha, or Dembele wouldn't cook here.

 

[Belgian Flash]

I get that some of it may be system related but I find it difficult to believe the likes of Mbappe, Yamal, Vinicius Jr., Kvaratskhelia, Olise, Raphinha, or Dembele wouldn't cook here.

Thats a lot of diverse profiles. Mbappe, Raphinha and Dembele are practically central players by now. Yamal would be severely hampered in this City side. Vinicius would be Pep's biggest nightmare. He gets one out of ten attempts right and has zero regard for consequences on defense. Kvara, and Olise are more or less at the same level as City's wingers. Kvara would basically be a Grealish clone here.

All of these players thrive on freedom. Doku and Savinho freedom is very limited to specific situations. They are forced to play much less instinctively than all of these players. In the end it works for the team even if it doesn't work for their stats.

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

Thats a lot of diverse profiles. Mbappe, Raphinha and Dembele are practically central players by now. Yamal would be severely hampered in this City side. Vinicius would be Pep's biggest nightmare. He gets one out of ten attempts right and has zero regard for consequences on defense. Kvara, and Olise are more or less at the same level as City's wingers. Kvara would basically be a Grealish clone here.

All of these players thrive on freedom. Doku and Savinho freedom is very limited to specific situations. They are forced to play much less instinctively than all of these players. In the end it works for the team even if it doesn't work for their stats.

If Pep thought that any of our current wingers were capable of delivering Mahrez or Sterling amount of goals, there’s no way Pep would use them as “decoys”.

 

[Dr Jacoby]

Thats a lot of diverse profiles. Mbappe, Raphinha and Dembele are practically central players by now. Yamal would be severely hampered in this City side. Vinicius would be Pep's biggest nightmare. He gets one out of ten attempts right and has zero regard for consequences on defense. Kvara, and Olise are more or less at the same level as City's wingers. Kvara would basically be a Grealish clone here.

All of these players thrive on freedom. Doku and Savinho freedom is very limited to specific situations. They are forced to play much less instinctively than all of these players. In the end it works for the team even if it doesn't work for their stats.

Agree with most of this but Kvaratskhelia and Olise are better than Grealish, Doku and Savinho in my mind.

 

[Belgian Flash]

If Pep thought that any of our current wingers were capable of delivering Mahrez or Sterling amount of goals, there’s no way Pep would use them as “decoys”.

They don't need to deliver Mahrez or Sterling amount of goals, the team needs to deliver an amount of goals. In Pep's calculation the best way to achieve this is to maximize the goalscoring of the best goalscorer in his generation and thats accomplished through using them as decoys and looking for the underlap and square. Everything else is a bonus. If you use them as goalscorers the entire gameplan changes and the trade off is net negative.

 

[Belgian Flash]

Agree with most of this but Kvaratskhelia and Olise are better than Grealish, Doku and Savinho in my mind.

They look better because you see them in a different context.

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

They don't need to deliver Mahrez or Sterling amount of goals, the team needs to deliver an amount of goals. In Pep's calculation the best way to achieve this is to maximize the goalscoring of the best goalscorer in his generation and thats accomplished through using them as decoys and looking for the underlap and square. Everything else is a bonus. If you use them as goalscorers the entire gameplan changes and the trade off is net negative.

True, but we are scoring less now as a team than before.

I’m not suggesting that Pep is wrong in how he is utilising the wingers. He’s doing what he thinks brings the team the best chance of success.

If we had more productive wingers, Pep might change how the team plays.

 

[Belgian Flash]

True, but we are scoring less now as a team than before.

I’m not suggesting that Pep is wrong in how he is utilising the wingers. He’s doing what he thinks brings the team the best chance of success.

If we had more productive wingers, Pep might change how the team plays.

Then we simply have a different perspective on causality in the context of Pep's decisions. I think he intentionally chooses wingers that can follow and execute the gameplan, and not that he adapts the gameplan to the acquisition of such wingers. I think he knows if he gets a Vinicius or Yamal, the offensive output would be marginally bigger (possibly maybe even compensating for any decrease of Haaland's output) but the damage to the structure in terms of control, positioning and general discipline would offset this increase.

You can more easily rein in coachable youngsters like Doku and Savinho than to bring in a finished product in Vinicius or even Yamal (especially for the money that would require), and then ask him to play mostly as a decoy for Haaland. A control freak like Pep likely anticipated all this and decided to build around Haaland.

And maybe we are indeed scoring less than before but I think Pep's mistake here is not changing the defensive guard sooner rather than his choice of wingers, because he was counting on defensive solidity to compensate for the slightly lesser scoring numbers.

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

Then we simply have a different perspective on causality in the context of Pep's decisions. I think he intentionally chooses wingers that can follow and execute the gameplan, and not that he adapts the gameplan to the acquisition of such wingers. I think he knows if he gets a Vinicius or Yamal, the offensive output would be marginally bigger (possibly maybe even compensating for any decrease of Haaland's output) but the damage to the structure in terms of control, positioning and general discipline would offset this increase.

You can more easily rein in coachable youngsters like Doku and Savinho than to bring in a finished product in Vinicius or even Yamal (especially for the money that would require), and then ask him to play mostly as a decoy for Haaland. A control freak like Pep likely anticipated all this and decided to build around Haaland.

And maybe we are indeed scoring less than before but I think Pep's mistake here is not changing the defensive guard sooner rather than his choice of wingers, because he was counting on defensive solidity to compensate for the slightly lesser scoring numbers.

He’s totally adapted his game plan since Sterling and Sane were here, so to suggest he only buys players that suit a certain system seems wrong.

As you say, the focal point is Haaland. Despite this, Doku has hardly assisted him in his time here, so there’s no way that Pep has maximised his output.

If we bought someone like Semenyo, someone with a real goal threat, would;’t that free up more space for Haaland as the opposition would have to shut Semenyo down too?

 

[K-Bo]

I think he's close to being rotated out, particularly with Marmoush and Cherki back. I think another nothing game vs Villa and would expect him to be benched.