Pep Lijnders is already improving Man City’s £55m player, fans claim he was ‘really good’ vs Juventus

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Manchester City are into the FIFA Club World Round of 16 following a 5-2 win over Juventus and there was one player in particular who really stood out.

Goals from Jeremy Doku, Erling Haaland, Phil Foden, Savinho and an own goal from Pierre Kalulu helped Pep Guardiola’s side to make it three wins from three in Group G.

City were far too strong for the Italian team, who struggled to test Ederson’s goal and they ended up cruising to another three points.

But there was one player’s performance that stood out in Orlando, and supporters believe their new assistant coach is already making an impact.

Man City fans think Pep Lijnders is already influencing Jeremy Doku

Manchester City fans were so impressed by Doku’s performance against Juventus and claimed that Pep Lijnders is already influencing him.

The winger caused the Turin club so many issues throughout the 90 minutes and the Juve defenders will have been so relieved to see him subbed off after 63 minutes.

Doku, who cost Man City £55m, claimed the Man of the Match award with what was a top performance from the Belgian international.

The forward has shown flashes of brilliance during his time at the Etihad Stadium, however, he has struggled to perform consistently.

City will be hoping that the former Liverpool boss can help to get the best out of the 23-year-old, and this can finally be his breakout campaign.

During the 5-2 win over Juventus, City supporters took to X to share their thoughts on Lijnders already influencing Doku.

One fan said: “Lijnders has developed Doku 100 times more in a couple of weeks than Lilo did in three years.”

Another claimed: “Haaland’s playmaking ability and Doku’s movement off the ball in the same game, Lijnders might be the greatest ever.”

There was yet more praise for Doku’s improvement: “Doku hardly ever makes runs like the one that led to his goal; he’s already done it twice this Club World Cup. We love to see it.”

Finally, another supporter added: “Doku downloaded the off-ball movement package. We’ve fully arrived.”

Jeremy Doku’s amazing stats vs Juventus

Doku tormented Pierre Kalulu and Alberto Costa throughout the match with his impressive dribbling as he completed seven of his eight attempts.

No player completed more dribble attempts than the £55m wide man, which appears to be the strongest aspect of his game.

The former Rennes star also won more duels than any other player on the pitch as he showed an incredible work rate off the ball.

He won 11 of his 15 duels against the Old Lady, with the next highest being Filip Kostic, who only managed seven.