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ETIHAD STADIUM, MANCHESTER — As Pep Guardiola surveyed an unfolding job nicely achieved on his 1,000th recreation in soccer administration, a well-known scene performed out on the touchline.
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Within the 74th minute of ‘s over , man of the match Jeremy Doku made approach to a standing ovation.
Belgium winger Doku terrorised the Liverpool defence all through the competition, with right-back Conor Bradley enduring a really totally different 90 minutes to these he loved in midweek when shackling star Vinicius Junior.
Doku proved to be a special proposition solely to the 2024 Ballon d’Or runner-up, and he capped an excellent exhibiting by firing dwelling from exterior the realm after the hour. The outcome put Metropolis second, 4 factors behind leaders after 11 video games.
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When he made method for Omar Marmoush just a little over 10 minutes later, Guardiola embraced the 23-year-old earlier than participating him in an animated and pretty one-way dialog.
“We have been speaking in the course of the coaching session generally about how my physique place is after I shoot and we have been simply speaking about after I scored,” he defined. “So it was a fast joke.
“It is tough to elucidate [Guardiola’s advice], simply that I’ve to place my physique above the ball after I shoot so the ball does not…so I can put extra energy, one thing like that.”
Physique place is one among Guardiola’s footballing obsessions, from holding midfielders to attackers. Early in his Metropolis reign, footage of him manhandling Raheem Sterling on the coaching floor went viral.
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Though by no means a pure finisher, Sterling racked up sufficient objectives to be the third-highest particular person goalscorer beneath Guardiola after and Sergio Aguero with 120 when he left Metropolis in 2022.
Jeremy Doku
Whereas praising his winger’s efficiency after the match, Guardiola mentioned Doku, “won’t ever be a prime, prime scorer if I am sincere”. That being mentioned, there may be a lot room for enchancment. The Liverpool screamer was Doku’s first within the Premier League this season, whereas he has scored three in every of his earlier two league campaigns.
“No, I don’t do this [have a target for goals and assists], as a result of I feel these come from themselves,” Doku mentioned.
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“I simply work to have extra of that, however I’m not a participant that’s going to take care of a recreation and say, ‘You didn’t rating, you didn’t help, you had a nasty recreation’. I’m not that sort of participant. A foul recreation is for me if I don’t contact the ball, if I’m not efficient or if I lose quite a lot of balls; that’s a nasty recreation.
“If I didn’t rating in the present day, would I’ve mentioned this can be a unhealthy recreation? No, I might have mentioned this can be a good recreation. That’s how I’m and the way I’m going to be.”
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A part of Doku’s effectiveness in latest weeks has been all the way down to a altering function in Guardiola’s new-look Metropolis configuration. Having spent most of his first two years in Manchester as a touchline-hugging winger, the previous Rennes participant has been given license to roam from flank to flank. He may also be seen darting in-field to hyperlink with playmakers and kindred spirits Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki, together with getting near Erling Haaland at centre-forward.
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“If I get freedom, I am not going to say no. After all, I desire that,” he mentioned. “Getting inside, getting exterior, go the place the ball is. It makes it unpredictable for the opponents so I prefer it.
“The supervisor likes that we [Doku, Foden and Cherki] all keep shut to one another. All these brief passes work nicely, we have now quite a lot of avenue in us in order that works.”
After struggling in the course of the opening weeks of the season, Metropolis and Doku are each shaping up fairly nicely.