Ange Postecoglou believes there is one thing that mustn’t happen with Manchester City winger Jeremy Doku.
Doku made his second appearance at Euro 2024 on Saturday night as Belgium took on Romania. Belgium won 2-0, with Kevin De Bruyne scoring in the second-half after Youri Tielemans had given them a very early lead.
Doku finished the season well with City, and was the standout player for the Blues in the FA Cup final against Manchester United.
Belgium lost their opening game against Slovakia and Doku, despite his mistake, looked very dangerous.
And it was the same story against Romania, with pundit Karen Carney branding him ‘devastating’.
Ange Postecoglou believes one thing mustn’t happen with Doku, as the winger continues to develop.
Man City winger Jeremy Doku told to keep playing with the shackles off
Doku played from the left again against Romania – and he gave his marker Andrei Ratiu a torrid time.
Doku was electric and created several good chances for teammates. After two games, he is fourth for chances created out of all players in the tournament, and he also has the most take-ons completed with nine.
The former Anderlecht man was particularly lively during the first-half, and during the break, Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou, who was on punditry duty for ITV, gave his thoughts about Doku.
Having come up against him in 2023/24, the Australian feels he must not lose his expressiveness, even if it leads to him making mistakes on the pitch.
Responding to a suggestion that Doku might need to calm down, he said: “Yeah, to a certain extent, but you don’t want to take that exuberance and rawness because, I can tell you, facing him this year in terms of – the team facing him, not me, thankfully – he is such a threat when he gets the ball because he always wants to take on his opponent.
“And those kinds of players, you don’t want to delve that at all because once you start getting them playing safe, it takes away what the magic is.
“You put him in a team, okay he is going to make some mistakes, not in the back half, in the front half, but when he does break through and the threat he poses, I think there is so much more upside here.”
Postecoglou is right
Postecoglou is spot on about Doky, especially since he plays for Manchester City.
City are a team filled with technicians. At times, the build-up play can be very patient. It is a regular occurrence that the ball is moved from side to side, as players probe for an opening.
But then you’ve got £50,000-a-week star Doku, who is more direct and someone completely different to other players.
It would be wrong to shackle Doku, because his biggest weapons are his acceleration and unpredictability. He can get by people in flash, which is obviously very handy.
We have seen him come on many times for City and he has just provided something different, and he must be worked with to flourish, not stifled.
