- Wayne Rooney told Jeremy Doku to be more selfish
- The Man City winger has responded with more goal threat
- Doku’s recent form has added a new edge to his game
Jeremy Doku has always been dangerous for Manchester City, but his recent form suggests he is starting to turn danger into damage.
The Belgian has always been able to isolate defenders. However, his latest run has also shown a stronger desire to finish attacks himself.
Doku has scored four goals in his last five games with two assists. Likewise, the winger has five goals and five assists through the Premier League campaign.
With only three goals each in his last two English top-flight campaigns, it looks like Doku took Wayne Rooney’s previous suggestion seriously.
Wayne Rooney reveals Jeremy Doku advice
Speaking on Match of the Day, Rooney explained that he spoke to Doku after the FA Cup semi-final and encouraged him to become more aggressive in front of goal.
The advice has served Doku well as he’s scored three goals since that game. It looks like the winger just needed some push to be selfish and convert chances himself.
“After the semi-final, I said to him off-air, ‘You need to be more selfish and get more shots off.’ You see from that, the goals he scored, the shots he’s had, the chances created, everything about his game since then shows he’s an absolute world-class player,” Rooney said on-air.
Doku has doubled his recent shots-on-target output
Since the FA Cup semi-final against Southampton, Doku has registered four shots on target across two Premier League games.
He hit the target twice against Everton and twice again against Brentford. Likewise, he only had one shot on target against Southampton in the FA Cup semi-final.
After Rooney’s advice, the winger doubled his shots on target output while almost doubling his total shots.
He took only two shots against Southampton. However, he took three shots against Everton and four against Brentford, averaging 3.5 shots in two games.
Doku’s shot quality makes Rooney’s advice even more relevant
While Doku doesn’t have to go on a volume spree, the winger’s shot quality is enough to get him through on good chances.
The Belgian has scored twice as much as expected this season. However, he only started doing that last season.
In his first English season, he scored three goals from 2.53 xG, overperforming expectations by only a small margin.
In his second City campaign, he scored three goals from an xG of 1.32. However, his shot volume was still low despite outperforming xG.
This shows how the winger always had an eye for the goal but failed to take enough shots to get through. However, with Rooney’s advice, Doku has found the final piece to become more decisive.
