11 | Jeremy Doku - 2023/24

[twosips]

I think he’s worthy of us giving him more than 5 months before making any concrete appraisals one way or another.

Hmmm that's quite a bold claim. He's played the equivalent of about 12 full 90 minutes for us. Why isn't he already truly world class? Not good enough. Waste of money.

 

[BillyShears]

Absolutely and Pep will likely succeed with most players.

I don’t think anyone is saying Doku is poor.

Is it a coincidence that we won the CL after Sterling left? Probably, as we should have beaten Chelsea. But we didn’t, for whatever reason.

I think the slow warming to Doku is fabs adjusting to having less control and having more counter attacks as a result.

That isn’t just about Doku though. It’s not having Stones fit and Gundogan shaped hole in midfield that Kovacic is now beginning to fill properly.

KDB also tries things and loses the ball more than most. No one wants him sold! They’ll warm to Doku more as his final action improves.

Now we’re starting to look more defensively solid, he might get more slack too.

Here’s hoping, anyway!

I have a theory that last season in the run in certain games were too tight. Our 'control' led to fewer and fewer real big chances being created, which culminated in the CL final, which was won by a single goal and really had Lukaku not missed that header, could've gone either way.

This season it feels like Pep has decided that he wants the team to be more attacking and more adventurous. Playing Walker/Gvardiol high and wide, then flooding central areas with the likes of Foden, Doku et al and playing more players who want to beat their man suggests that the emphasis is on attack rather than control. We will always have a level of control, but even the summer signings felt like players that would naturally take us in a different direction from last season.

 

[Bluewars]

Salah's goal-scoring record at Basel, Chelsea and Fiorentina wasn't great. Only after going to Roma he became a proper goalscorer. Nobody in his right mind could see him scoring so many goals for Liverpool. Otherwise, he would cost at least double what Liverpool paid for him.

Doku might become a good goalscorer or might not, too early to tell. He can become an assist king, though. He's a raw diamond.

Salah's Finishing (check his game to goal ratio) at Basel was very good, I'm not referring to being a goal scorer that entails more than just finishing.

My whole point is that Doku currently his finishing is at a lower level whereas his dribbling is at a very high level, we can't use his young age to makes excuses for his shooting or final pass and then praise his link up play and dribbling, these things are not linked to age, your either good at it or your not, small improvements can made with coaching and experience.

 

[alexmcity]

Salah's Finishing (check his game to goal ratio) at Basel was very good, I'm not referring to being a goal scorer that entails more than just finishing.

My whole point is that Doku currently his finishing is at a lower level whereas his dribbling is at a very high level, we can't use his young age to makes excuses for his shooting or final pass and then praise his link up play and dribbling, these things are not linked to age, your either good at it or your not, small improvements can made with coaching and experience.

9 league goals in 47 apps for Basel.

 

[Boo or Boo-urns]

It's very early days but Doku seems out of sync when Haaland is playing with him.

On at least a few occasions when Haaland peels off, Doku chooses to pass elsewhere plus his speed and mazy dribbling means that Haaland's positional sense is out of kilter with Doku's style of play.

Reminds me of Mahrez early days at City, when he was always looking to shoot when a pass to a team mate was on.

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

I have a theory that last season in the run in certain games were too tight. Our 'control' led to fewer and fewer real big chances being created, which culminated in the CL final, which was won by a single goal and really had Lukaku not missed that header, could've gone either way.

This season it feels like Pep has decided that he wants the team to be more attacking and more adventurous. Playing Walker/Gvardiol high and wide, then flooding central areas with the likes of Foden, Doku et al and playing more players who want to beat their man suggests that the emphasis is on attack rather than control. We will always have a level of control, but even the summer signings felt like players that would naturally take us in a different direction from last season.

That’s fair comment. We are definitely in the dribble year of Pepball. He evolves each season to keep everyone else guessing and playing catch up.

As more teams get used to our box midfield, he’s decided that dribbling duels are the way to create more space. Kovacic is an expert, Nunes is decent, but like Doku, needs to work on what they do with the ball when they’ve created that space.

 

[Manchester_lalala]

I love him. We’ve gone years without a player like Jeremy, I’d say he’s the best 1v1 player we’ve had in the Mansour era. Obviously his final product isn’t up to standards yet, but I couldn’t give a toss about that just yet. These are the sort of players you should give time to develop.

 

[Bluewars]

9 league goals in 47 apps for Basel.

23 Starts in 47 appearences 16 G+A as a 19/20 year old.

 

[oldius]

Just popped in to see if this is another new, young player who is failing.

 

[Belgian Flash]

There’s no doubt he’s hugely exciting to watch, but also irksome when he’s dribbled past 5 defenders before passing it out for a goal kick or straight to thr opposition.

You can see it as irksome, or realize that despite the low conversion he still produces an elite total of chances, and just enjoy the way he does that, because its simply entertaining.

What I mean is you have someone like Foden or Bernie who plays a different game and takes the ball to a dangerous area three times a game and out of those three times he makes an assist or scores a goal at least once, or at least makes the right decision to create a chance. Meanwhile you have Doku who will try ten times in his way, and make a mistake eight times through the wrong decision or inaccurate pass after getting past his guy, but he will get it right twice. 2>1 in the end.

Of course its a simplification but the point is in absolute numbers he creates a lot, and people being unhappy because he doesn't both do what he does best AND make efficient decisions all the time are basically expecting him to be Messi, because thats what a hybrid of Doku and Foden/Bernie would be. Its asking too much honestly. I'd rather enjoy the eight times he creates excitement without end product, knowing that eventually he will get one right due to sheer volume.

I think Pep plays him on the left because he sees him as a project and wants to improve Doku's shooting and turn him into a scorer. But Doku is not a Mbappe/Leao type of inside forward, hes a winger who will always be better at assisting than scoring. Being on the left doesn't improve his decision making because he is doubled more easily due to the obvious choices he has, and he has too much time between receiving the ball and making that choice. He sizes up opponents for too long, overthinks and then very often he has to restart because all the options are taken away. On the right he would play more instinctive and reactive which is his game. So its basically a decision by Pep whether he wants to turn Doku into a different player (more of a forward) by developing his shooting, or to fine tune his strength which is creation, which would be better to do from the right wing because his decision making would get better there.