The standing ovation at the Etihad Stadium was completely deserved when Jeremy Doku gave way to Omar Marmoush in the 74th minute of the Manchester City-Liverpool game. A shock which quickly ended short and to the advantage of Skyblues. With the highlight, the duel between Jeremy Doku and Conor Bradley. Real poison on his left wing, the 23-year-old winger quickly set the tone for a late afternoon where each acceleration would shake the right side of the defense of the Reds. From the first minutes of this meeting on the 11th day of the Premier League, the former Stade Rennais player took advantage of a disagreement between the right-back of the Reds and Ibrahima Konaté to steal the leather from him and challenge Mamardashvili. Broke by the Georgian goalkeeper, he was awarded a penalty, missed by Haaland (13th). But this first incident of play was only a simple warning and the start of a long ordeal for Bradley and the rest of the defense of the English champions.
Just a few moments later, Doku martyred the young Northern Irishman again. A lightning thrust, a supersonic acceleration, then a strike stopped at the last minute by Mamardashvili (27th). But more than spectacular actions, it was the Belgian’s consistency and impact that impressed: 51 touched balls, 7 successful dribbles out of 8, 11 incursions into the Liverpool area, 4 passes in the final third and only one loss of ball. An almost clinical match, where each ball catch seemed to announce immediate danger.
First Premier League goal this season
But where his performance made an impression was above all the danger he caused, the fear he created with each of his touches of the ball in the Liverpool rearguard who did not know how to stop him. His teammates understood this and systematically forced on his left side to create danger. And this is also how City sealed their victory. After a knockdown from Nico González on the left side, O’Reilly finds Doku inside. Facing Konaté, the former Anderlecht player once again uses his favorite thrust to eliminate him and curl his ball perfectly for the 3-0 (63rd). An action of great beauty, which concluded a perfect performance, and which allowed him to finally unlock his goal counter in PL this season. Just before his release, Doku – with confidence – even offered himself the luxury of making a few defensive returns (5 recoveries in total in the match), just to add one more line to his successful match.
Named man of the match, Doku knew how accomplished his performance was, even if he mainly highlighted that of his team overall. “ In big matches, it’s always more exposed, more beautiful. I’m just happy with the game and the team’s performance today. From the start, we prepared well for the match. So, I am very happy!he indicated on the microphone of Sky Sports. I have great players around me, they push me every day because they believe in me, and that also makes me feel that I have to do more in every match, and every day I want to improve. And having teammates like that makes things easier. » His teammates must undoubtedly think the same thing about him.
