Against Finland, Jeremy Doku (19) collected his first minutes as a Red Devil at a major tournament. With his insane speed, he immediately made himself noticed, although analyst Gunther Schepens still saw a major working point: “He walks straight ahead for 70 meters and has not seen anything along the way.”
“Always threatening, but often loses the overview”
At the table in Villa Sporza, Doku’s performance against Finland was examined. Frank Boeckx, goalkeeper coach of the Anderlecht youth, revealed that they watched Doku’s match against Finland at Neerpede with wide eyes.
“The way he played, that’s how we know him. When he comes to the ball, it is immediately forward and he starts the action. There is always a threat. The Finnish keeper took that one shot very well. deserved a goal.”
Gunther Schepens also sees Doku’s qualities, but is also strict. “He is a good player. His most important quality is his speed, but because of that he often loses the overview.”
“For example, once he just left straight with the ball and came out 70 meters further, but he hadn’t seen anything on the way. A few times in the game he had to play the ball into the depth, but he didn’t.”
Franky Van der Elst agrees. “Keeping the overview is the progress that he still has to make. We already saw that at Anderlecht. He has taken steps forward at Rennes, but the calmness at the ball and the overview are things that he still has to learn. It is all still too much.” hit and miss.”
The Finnish goalkeeper likes Doku from a goal:
“If he comes in from the left, he’s the most dangerous”
Doku started the match on the right, but often drifted to the left. Does he do better there? Olivier Deschacht thinks so. “If he can get in, he’s life-threatening.”
“I remember a game against Zulte Waregem last year, where he scored twice by coming in and looking for the far post. He was fantastic then.”
Boeckx: “Those typical rushes, he does that on purpose, because he knows it is his strong point. If you take that away from him, it’s a different player.”
“The one-on-one action, that is his quality. He has to be put in position for that. Then he is almost impossible to defend. But Doku is not the player who has to put others in front of goal, that is not his role in this squad.”
Watch the conversation at the table about Jeremy Doku:
