Shaun Wright-Phillips has suggested that Jeremy Doku didn’t immediately sprint to get the ball back in the build-up to West Ham United’s first-half goal against Manchester City.
James Ward-Prowse opened the scoring at the London Stadium shortly after the City winger miscontrolled the ball and was unable to get it back.
This then led to one pundit having his say on the matter at the halftime interval of the match.
Wright-Phillips highlights Doku error
Speaking on the club’s half-time live stream on their official YouTube channel, Wright-Phillips had this to say about what he saw from Doku just before West Ham’s goal.
He said: “If you look at all the City wingers that have played in those positions, when they have lost the ball, that first point of call is to sprint or do anything to prevent a counter-attack.
“When I was watching Doku run back it almost didn’t feel like he was sprinting, to the point where I thought that he was a lot quicker than that and towards the end you see him sprint, whereas if he does that initially I think he can stop that counter-attack at source. Even if he gives a foul away, maybe get a yellow, maybe not, but then it doesn’t exist.”
City signed the attacker during the recent summer transfer window from Rennes in a deal worth £55m and then saw him make his debut for Pep Guardiola’s side in their 5-1 win over Fulham before the international break.
While the winger still has time to correct his mistake and has already taken a step towards doing so by scoring City’s equaliser early in the second half, this will undoubtedly be a learning curve for Doku, who is only making his second appearance for the Manchester club.
Moving forward, if Wright-Phillips was right and Doku could have prevented West Ham’s goal by putting more effort into winning the ball back, this is definitely something that Guardiola will make sure the winger will be well aware of his responsibilities out of possession, especially if he’s the one that gives the ball away.
