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Jeremy Doku says Liverpool did one thing so well that was just so ‘hard’ for Man City to handle in 2-0 defeat

Srinivas Sadhanand

Sun 23 February 2025 19:20, UK

Jeremy Doku was one of Manchester City’s few bright sparks as they lost 2-0 against Liverpool.

Arne Slot would have been concerned about the constant problems Doku was causing the visitors.

But ultimately, goals from Mohamed Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai meant Liverpool took another step towards becoming Premier League champions.

Manchester City dominated possession for much of the game but unlike the Reds, they were not as decisive in the final third as they suffered their first defeat at the Etihad Stadium to the Merseyside-based club since 2015.

Liverpool will be over the moon as the result is what will matter to them most rather than the performance.

Jeremy Doku, however will be frustrated as he especially starred in what was a surprisingly decent display from Manchester City.

Jeremy Doku says Liverpool’s defending made life “hard” for Manchester City

Doku would have been hoping that his twinkle-toed footwork could have led City to gaining at least a point against Liverpool.

But Arne Slot has one of the best defences in Europe, led by the impregnable Virgil van Dijk, named the world’s best centre-back and the in-form Ibrahima Konate.

Doku admitted that while in his view, Manchester City went toe-to-toe with Liverpool, the opposition’s excellent defending made it difficult for them to create chances.

The Belgian said live on : “To be fair, if I look at the game, I don’t think that they were much better than us. Two goals, one set piece and the second goal was a long ball, so well done to them. We know their qualities and that they like to play in behind. They did well and after, it is hard to come back against a team that defends well like that.”

“We played well but the situations that we had we could have dealt better with them. Today, we played better against them than we did away. Of course, there is a gap in points but today, you can’t say that they ran over us. We tried. I had a lot of attacking situations but after the two goals that they scored, they played very deep.”

“They defended very well and then played on the counter attack so it was hard for us to find spaces. Some games are like that. We just have to keep on going and take the good things from the game.”

Kostas Tsimikas celebrated right behind Pep Guardiola after Szoboszlai’s strike as Liverpool must be in dreamland and well aware of how well they defended on Sunday — perhaps being especially proud about Doku’s post-match admission.

Why Doku is bang on about Liverpool’s defending vs Man City as stats emerge

With Erling Haaland ruled out of proceedings, City especially looked toothless in and around the box.

For all of Doku’s majestic skills and tricks, they simply could not carve Liverpool’s defence up as Phil Foden was given the challenging task of playing as a false nine.

The 22-year-old winger’s assessment is spot on, however, judging by the numbers.

Manchester City were merely restricted to pot shots from distance as they could not find a way behind Liverpool’s rock-solid defence.

Doku and Savinho in particular tried to by weaking past their defences.

But their efforts were rendered futile.

As the old-adage goes, attack wins games, defence wins titles and Liverpool look like they are set to be the embodiment of this very phrase.