Game of Numbers #34 – Dribbling lessons from Jérémy Doku & Midge Purce

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Gotham FC finished the 2023 NWSL season in sixth place, narrowly scraping into the playoffs on goal differential over the Orlando Pride. They were far from the favourites to make the playoff final, let alone win the whole thing over a star-studded team like OL Reign. Yet thanks to a double-assist from Midge Purce, the NJ/NY team claimed the highest honour the NWSL has to offer. Here is a dribbling masterclass featuring lessons from the electrifying Midge Purce and Manchester City’s new kid on the block Jérémy Doku.

MIDGE PURCE’S FINAL MASTERCLASS

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Margaret ‘Midge’ Purce has always been a dangerous destructor. But that does not always translate into an abundance of goals and assists. Purce contributed to six goals in her fourteen appearances this season, with two of those contributions coming on the final day.

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Where you can never let the 28-year-old space to breathe is in 1v1 situations. She’s a dominant dribbler, incredibly direct with her approach, and combines both the pace and technical skill to easily beat her opponents.

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The hallmark of Midge Purce’s dribbling style is in knocking the ball into open space and running onto it. She trusts her out-and-out speed up against any defender and reads the spaces well to know where and when to knock the ball into her own path.

But Purce is also adept at slowing the game down and exuding ‘La Pausa‘, where she can pause on the ball and then inject variety and unpredictability into her play.

When deployed off the left, defenders should know that she wants to come inside on her right foot. But the speed at which she knocks the ball past defenders makes her unbeatable.

Not to mention the fact that she has the ability to go on her left and enact two-footed brilliance, where you’ll often see her cutting onto her left foot from the right wing.

From either position, it’s that hallmark knock-past that Purce is often waiting for. Sometimes this manifests in nutmegs, and other times it allows her to escape sticky situations.

In creating that brilliant moment at the weekend to grab Gotham’s first goal of the game, Purce exuded poise and precision in exactly that.

She read the moment and the space to knock the ball into, and used her speed to out-sprint the defender to the ball. Faced with the final defender, Purce brought on ‘La Pausa‘ and then injected a quick acceleration of pace to take the defender on down the line and beat them before the killer pass. It was a game-winning masterclass from the Gotham winger, and a day Midge Purce will likely never forget.

DRIBBLING LIKE Jérémy Doku

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Jérémy Doku could likely have his own show all about dribbling…just like Kaoru Mitoma wrote a thesis on the subject. He’s taking players on at an obscene rate, and the way he deploys his dribbles is the most frightening of any player in world football.

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Take Eden Hazard and add raw pace and power to the mix. You get Jérémy Doku – a player who is currently keeping Jack Grealish out of the Manchester City lineup even after the season the former Villa man had in 2022-23.

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Jérémy Doku is frightening. You can’t touch him, you can’t dive in. You can’t do anything! He’ll knock the ball past you with a heavy touch like Midge Purce, but he’ll also find a way to turn you inside out back the way you came after doing so. This is the unpredictable fun that is the Belgian winger. You simply never know which way he’s going to turn.

This can be a detriment. He needs to be careful not to do everything on his own, and not turn back into trouble after already beating his man. But so far in his Man City career, Doku has been exceptional at reading the spaces to know which way to turn. Sometimes it seems as though he’s just toying with the defender. But more often, he’ll take it onto his left foot when there is the most amount of space available to take the ball in that direction.

He’ll take the ball onto his right foot when there is the most amount of space and likelihood of scoring/contributing to a goal available in that direction.

It’s really that simple…for all the complexity that it would be to defend against. The fundamental rule that any young player can learn from Doku’s dribbling is to read the space available and take it past the defender with a swift, heavy touch.

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What makes Doku unique is that he just adds an extra layer of flamboyance to his play. He loves the fake flick of the foot where he’ll lift it ever so slightly and then dance with the defender like he’s a young Neymar.

He loves a fake shot, where he’ll fake as though he’s about to hit the ball on a one-timer. But shouldn’t they know by now?! Jérémy Doku never hits the ball on a one-timer! He always sets himself with the perfect weight of touch on his first receival, before dancing his way around defenders and striking when you least expect it. This is how he scored that oh so sweet goal against Bournemouth.

Any player who can keep Jack Grealish out of the lineup is truly something special. And remember, Jérémy Doku is only 21 years old. Frightening.

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Be sure to check out more from my Game of Numbers series, and follow on social media @desmondrhys. Thanks for reading and see you soon!

-> Game of Numbers #33 – Nicolas Jackson & the art of extra touches
-> Game of Numbers #32 – Harry Kane’s playmaking at Bayern Munich

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