11 | Jeremy Doku - 2023/24

[Alan Harper's Tash]

Always seems to want to do that extra thing, he put someone on there arse yesterday but then decided to go back outside and Palmer got a tackle in for a corner when he should’ve just crossed it.

That was about an inch and a half from being a penalty. Palmer got lucky.

 

[GaudinoMotors]

Exciting player - but we play better when we conserve energy and wear the opposition down, probing intelligent football - the fine line between caution and being over adventurous and stretched. Haaland is our luxury - a productive one and one doing a lot more than when he arrived - granted. Not sure we can accommodate two though, without sacrificing other areas - as we saw yesterday.

 

[hammersmithlad]

It’s because we had less control of a game than I can recall for years.

The biggest hole was the lack of Kovacic/Lewis in midfield, but you can see Grealish’s worth in these types of game. Just because he didn’t for a while wasn’t totally his fault, just like it wasn’t totally Doku’s fault today.

Had Alvarez not started, Doku might have won us the game. we’ll never know.

Away from home with the pace & athleticism Chelsea have in attack, I feared starting Doku ahead of Grealish for this kind of game would expose us & unfortunately it looked like the case even though I'm sure it ended up being a cracker for the neutral.

I'm sure Pep knew this was the risk but he likes to challenge things & decided to go on the front foot yesterday in comparison to the Arsenal game a few weeks ago. I reckon he may double back down to using Grealish for these sort of games, especially away from home. Doku still needs time to learn all things City & at home he definitely feeds off the crowd which isn't quite the same away from home.

A large part of us winning the treble last season was Grealish's 'un-sexy' possession football where his defensive contribution was vital too. Yesterday's game harked back to our basketball games in the past against the Scousers. I doubt Pep is comfortable with this!

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

Away from home with the pace & athleticism Chelsea have in attack, I feared starting Doku ahead of Grealish for this kind of game would expose us & unfortunately it looked like the case even though I'm sure it ended up being a cracker for the neutral.

I'm sure Pep knew this was the risk but he likes to challenge things & decided to go on the front foot yesterday in comparison to the Arsenal game a few weeks ago. I reckon he may double back down to using Grealish for these sort of games, especially away from home. Doku still needs time to learn all things City & at home he definitely feeds off the crowd which isn't quite the same away from home.

A large part of us winning the treble last season was Grealish's 'un-sexy' possession football where his defensive contribution was vital too. Yesterday's game harked back to our basketball games in the past against the Scousers. I doubt Pep is comfortable with this!

Alvarez playing as a high 8 was probably more of the reason for the lack of control, but Jack would have been more conservative with the ball and slowed the tempo.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and Doku gains valuable experience. It will do him and us in good stead in the future,

 

[hammersmithlad]

Alvarez playing as a high 8 was probably more of the reason for the lack of control, but Jack would have been more conservative with the ball and slowed the tempo.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and Doku gains valuable experience. It will do him and us in good stead in the future,

I have every confidence Doku will take yesterday's game as a learning experience, as he comes across as a studious individual who is constantly seeking self-improvement in his game.

Mentally, seems quite the opposite to Palmer, who I was gutted to see leave the club but relies too much on his natural talent as commented within his interviews about pens. I reckon the club were privately frustrated in Palmer not doing the extra work or effort to step up to the next level with us & see a different mindset with Doku.

 

[Craig]

Exciting player - but we play better when we conserve energy and wear the opposition down, probing intelligent football - the fine line between caution and being over adventurous and stretched. Haaland is our luxury - a productive one and one doing a lot more than when he arrived - granted. Not sure we can accommodate two though, without sacrificing other areas - as we saw yesterday.

Don’t think he’s a luxury at all. He has a gift that very few players have. The luxury is playing 2 forwards particularly without Stones. The problems we had yesterday were not caused by Doku. Case in point being we had no more control when Jack came on. Pushing Bernado up so high without Stones also left Rodri with even less support. Against utd Bernado got to push up on the left and support Grealish and it worked a treat probably for two main reasons. One we had Stones playing brilliantly with Rodri and that shower have inferior players to Chelsea.

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

I have every confidence Doku will take yesterday's game as a learning experience, as he comes across as a studious individual who is constantly seeking self-improvement in his game.

Mentally, seems quite the opposite to Palmer, who I was gutted to see leave the club but relies too much on his natural talent as commented within his interviews about pens. I reckon the club were privately frustrated in Palmer not doing the extra work or effort to step up to the next level with us & see a different mindset with Doku.

Good shout about Palmer. He’ll always have to rely on natural ability as there doesn’t seem much between the ears.

Gazza did alright on that though.

 

[GaudinoMotors]

Don’t think he’s a luxury at all. He has a gift that very few players have. The luxury is playing 2 forwards particularly without Stones. The problems we had yesterday were not caused by Doku. Case in point being we had no more control when Jack came on. Pushing Bernado up so high without Stones also left Rodri with even less support. Against utd Bernado go to push up on the left and support Grealish and it worked a treat probably for two main reasons. One we had Stones playing brilliantly with Rodri and that shower have inferior players to Chelsea.

I've heard this - but, but, but we were winning when Grealish came on. You don't just push a button and gain control - reset to a default RM first half setting during a match. The match was on a knife edge throughout - "partly" due to the selection of Doku - it was a risk - a calculated one - but a risk nonetheless.
I concede your point about the absence of Stones.

 

[bluemoon32]

Exciting player, could turn out to be a huge player for us but he still has an awful lot to learn, which is expected.

 

[Craig]

I've heard this - but, but, but we were winning when Grealish came on. You don't just push a button and gain control - reset to a default RM first half setting during a match. The match was on a knife edge throughout - "partly" due to the selection of Doku - it was a risk - a calculated one - but a risk nonetheless.
I concede your point about the absence of Stones.

Yeah, i’m not getting into the tit for tat of each time one comes on and does something they should’ve started over the other etc. I just think the way we were set up wasn’t really gonna give us control no matter who played on the left. For me we’re far too open against decent teams without Stones if we’re gonna play Alvarez off Haaland. Maybe even with Stones against the very best of sides.