Manchester City fans got a first glimpse of Jeremy Doku on Saturday – and the winger has since come in for praise from Juanma Lillo.
City made it four wins from four on Saturday against Fulham at the Etihad Stadium.
Erling Haaland helped himself to a hat-trick, and further goals came from Nathan Ake and Julian Alvarez.
It was a comfortable game.
Although, City did get lucky with Ake’s goal being allowed to stand. Even Haaland has said that he thought Manuel Akanji was offside.
But City put in an accomplished display in the second-half.
And it was good to get a look at Doku – and Lillo was happy with the Belgian’s debut…
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Juanma Lillo praises Jeremy Doku after his Manchester City debut against Fulham
Doku started on the right for City, before swapping over with Phil Foden to the left.
Doku had some good moments, and demonstrated the rapid acceleration and dribbling is is mostly known for.
It was a decent display for his first outing, and Lillo was happy with what he saw from the youngster.
He said (via mancity.com): “If you look at the way he played, we lacked that fluidity as a team and it was difficult to find him at times.
“In fact, that was one of the reasons we had him switch wings in the first half, we spoke with Pep about that and they changed.
“We had a lot of players playing balls through the centre which is something he can do as well but at times he couldn’t get as much of the ball as perhaps he could have.
“One thing I will say is he didn’t stop in the collective effort. He was always working for the team and he showed that it appeared as if he’d been playing for our team for a long time.”
Positive signs over Doku against Fulham
Doku looked decent against Fulham, but at times he also did very much look like a young player making his debut for a big club in a new country.
But he did perfectly fine and it’s nice to hear Lillo praising him. Because Doku was actually a little hard on himself after the game, admitting he was ‘frustrated’ not to provide a goal or an assist.
There’s no doubt he’s going to be an impactful player for City.
Once he settles in, he is going to be a real weapon.