Fans blame Coach as Manchester City and Southampton produced a dull affair on Saturday afternoon
Pep Guardiola’s men increased their unbeaten run to 10 games, however, the 0-0 result at St Mary’s Stadium was a huge blow to the Manchester club as it will allow their rivals to make up ground on them in the race for a place in next season’s Champions League.
Paul Merson expected Man City to secure an easy win over Southampton on Saturday, which was the belief of nearly everyone in the football world.
Many will feel that Man City had an eye on the FA Cup final next weekend, and Guardiola will have questions to answer, after the City boss started the contest without any wingers, which proved to be the incorrect decision.
Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
Man City fans question Pep Guardiola for benching Jeremy Doku
Life might have been easier for Man City had Southampton’s Lesley Ugochukwu been sent off in the first half; however, that is not an excuse for the Manchester club dropping points to the bottom team in the Premier League.
Guardiola started the match with James McAtee and Phil Foden behind his two forwards, and Man City fans were left wondering why Jeremy Doku didn’t start the contest very quickly after the game began at St Mary’s.
Writing on X (formerly known as Twitter), one Man City fan said: “Doku is our best player against a low block, why isn’t he playing?”
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A second Man City supporter stated about the Belgian: “Perfect game for Doku to cause some chaos.”
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Finally, a third Man City fan said: “I don’t understand Pep though… this game needs Doku/Savinho.”
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Guardiola realised the error he had made and brought Doku on at half-time for McAtee. The Belgian made things a little livelier, however, the winger could not help Man City find a winning goal.
Jeremy Doku’s recent form at Man City
This season has been an up-and-down one for Doku as the Belgian has struggled to hold down a starting place in Guardiola’s team, however, the 22-year-old has shown a bit of form in recent games.
Man City fans praised Doku for his contribution to the Manchester club’s winning goal against Aston Villa recently, while the winger started against Wolves last week and assisted the winner again, cutting the ball back to Kevin De Bruyne.
That took Doku’s tally for the season to six goals and nine assists across 34 games in all competitions, which is below the level expected of a player who cost £55m.
Next season will be a huge campaign for the Belgian as the winger needs to start delivering. To do that, Guardiola needs to trust the 22-year-old, and not starting him against Southampton seemed like an obvious mistake.
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