Look at today for example. Yes Doku completed some dribbles, but most times Trent funneled him to the byline or inside and Doku wasn’t really threatening for the most part. Yet the prevailing narrative is that he got destroyed by Doku.
He has actually been decent to good at defending this season yet people say he’s been a horrific defender. I don’t think this is quite true if you watch him play.
I won’t claim that he’s an amazing defender but he’s not a bad one either, he’s just a perfectly average to good defender but the narrative is that he’s a liability. It’s frustrating to see.
I think it is probably overblown, but I don’t think today is a particularly good example of why.
Apart from the goal, TAA wasn’t actually especially good all-around today, particularly in direct comparison to Doku, who had a higher Opta match rating (MOTM) and FPL BPS total (tied with Ake for most in the game) than TAA despite not having scored or assisted. Without the goal, he would have been in the 6 out of 10 range along with most of his teammates (only Salah got above 7 because of his nominal assist for TAA’s goal, which was more poor defending from City than exceptional play from TAA).
Doku actually created quite a few good chances throughout the match, most often by beating TAA, his teammates just couldn’t put them away or TAA’s teammates were able to cover to stop a shot on goal. Another day and Doku could have had two assists.
TL;DR
TAA is not nearly as bad at defending as often portrayed by pundits or rival fans but today’s match isn’t particularly strong evidence (other matches this season would be).