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Shane Duffy

Discussion in 'Ex Players' started by Callum McGregor, Sep 1, 2020.

Discuss Shane Duffy in the Ex Players area at TalkCeltic.net.

  1. Westlondonscot Gold Member Gold Member

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    The rumour was £2m for the loan plus 100% of his pay. Supporters should expect a lot from him.
     
  2. ddub11

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    I know noting about what he cost so ill take your word,however that makes no difference to me.

    Iv kept an eye on Duffy playing for Ireland/Brighton(when he played) and imo hes an average defender who i believe will hold his own in our league.

    If people base their opinion on a player by what we pay for him thats up to them but i like to see a player in action a few times and base my opinion on what i see.

    Tbf i understand your point about the cost and what we should expect but we all know clubs buy and sell players at inflated prices i mean i look at Ntcham and cant see how he even gets a game with us and yet we are led to believe the guy is worth millions.
     
  3. celtic warrior

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    We need to play to his strengths.

    Which means, playing him on the bench.

    Simples.
     
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  4. scootz

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    I knew nothing about the lad, but from what I've seen he's REALLY not suited to playing for a team like Celtic in the SPL as he simply doesn't have the positional awareness or legs to transition quickly enough from attack to defence.

    I've no doubt he's an asset for set-pieces and for a real backs-to-the-wall performance, but we don't get much of the latter in the SPL.
     
    Last edited: Oct 26, 2020
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  5. Valhalla Thus spoke Batistuta.

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    Punted Duffy on loan for £2m and us paying his full wage, signed Veltman for 900k.

    Brighton have absolutely done us.
     
    Last edited: Oct 26, 2020
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  6. CountyDownFaithful

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    Needs to be dropped as soon as Jullien, Elhamed or Bitton are fit. That mistake yesterday is unforgivable after the dismal performances he’s been putting in.

    It just goes to show how underrated the SPFL is. Another player who done well in England is struggling with the speed and intensity of the game up here.

    He would maybe cope a bit better if he had a defensive full back next to him as it’s clear he is woeful when dragged out to the channel.
     
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  7. Lecs

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    Get him to *.

    Absolute shambles of a centre back.

    Why we decided to start shopping in the EPL is beyond me to start with, the amount of money they pay for * players is insane. He's just another one of these guys who thought he would stroll Scottish football and he's been totally found out. Can't * defend.

    Dreadful player, get shot of the *. Let anybody play instead of him.

    We would be better signing an Aberdeen CB, or a Kilmarnock * CB than this cabbage.
     
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  8. Thommo92

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    I wanted him here and I’m not going to call him *, but his performances so far have been nothing short of abysmal.

    I think the thing he’s struggling with most is transitioning from a team who mostly play on the backfoot, in Brighton, to a team like us who have most of the ball and dominate possession. He is not good on the ball and he doesn’t seem to have an idea of what to do with it on the deck. In Brighton’s system he played in a deep, low block back four which he is accustomed to and definitely suits his strongest attributes. Also, I don’t see much of Ireland, but when I have watched them they don’t seem to be a particularly attacking side either.
     
  9. CountyDownFaithful

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    I wanted us to sign him because I thought he would bring much needed steel and leadership to the back line.

    But you’re absolutely right, he doesn’t have the legs or positional awareness that we need. This is something I would have expected Lennon, Kennedy and Strachan to be aware of.
     
  10. TheHappyLoss

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    No point fanning about with this, he looks utter pish so far. Slow as * which ain’t going to change
     
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  11. Lennon1888

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    Maybe take one of their keepers while we're at it.
     
  12. Pearse67*

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    Plays as if hes 40, rotten!
     
  13. DuffyBhoy

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    a poor mans Scott Mckenna. :fear:
     
  14. Marty McFly Whoa, this is heavy

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    I only realised today that he is 28.

    It was a genuine surprise. Thought he was 34 or something
     
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  15. Henrik 07 Gold Member Gold Member

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    Inflating the grander sense of ennui hanging over Celtic at the moment are a series of smaller crises and dilemmas.

    One of these is the question of what to do with Shane Duffy.

    The Republic of Ireland captain, an English Premier League veteran who opted for a loan move to his boyhood team this summer at the expense of interest from West Ham United and West Bromwich Albion to help target a 10th consecutive league title, scored two goals in his opening two games for Celtic. But the narrative train has crashed off the rails, with Sunday’s frantic draw away to Aberdeen featuring the latest in a succession of high-profile mistakes.

    This was a game and result that almost evoked another 3-3 away draw, with Kilmarnock in October 2011. That day, Celtic were 3-0 down at half-time and manager Neil Lennon’s job felt on the line — his team came back to take a point, a result which proved a turning point for their season as they won 18 of the next 19 leagues game to win the first of nine consecutive titles the following May.

    After an early season of below-par underlying performances leading up to a game of impotence against Rangers last weekend, Celtic found themselves 1-0 down against Aberdeen at half-time and needing to furnish some of that energy from Rugby Park nine years ago.

    Twice, Celtic came from behind — both at 1-0 and then 2-1 — to take a 3-2 lead with 15 minutes remaining, to suggest some fraction of that spirited comeback endured. Celtic’s woeful defensive organisation had another conclusion in mind, however, allowing Aberdeen two presentable opportunities even before Callum McGregor fouled Connor McLennan for the home side’s second penalty and eventual equaliser. Olivier Ntcham’s penalty concession, as well as McGregor’s, were needless individual errors, and they book-ended Duffy being caught on the ball for Aberdeen’s second goal.

    All three were daft mistakes, but there’s enough of a continuing trend now of Celtic conceding soft goals this season that it becomes as much a question of defensive organisation as simply individual player responsibility. Rangers now have a six-point lead at the top of the table after beating Livingston later on Sunday afternoon, albeit Celtic have a game in hand, so the already stern pressure on Lennon has amplified.

    “I’m disappointed that we haven’t won it,” Lennon told BBC Sport Scotland. “We showed plenty of character (and) personality to come back twice, and then we get our noses in front and I’m disappointed we haven’t seen it through.

    “Defensively, we can’t accept the goals that we’re giving away at the minute. It’s too sloppy.”

    Duffy had a torrid week even before the nightmare against Aberdeen.

    Eight days earlier, he played Connor Goldson onside for Rangers’ opener, and was consistently exposed both in and out of possession throughout. The real endurance test was against AC Milan in the Europa League on Thursday, however, where he had at fault on all three goals conceded. Stephen Welsh was more responsible for the first and the second but it was just his third senior appearance for Celtic and he is the sixth-choice centre-back in the squad while Duffy’s wealth of experience and past pedigree carries a greater weight of expectation.

    With Milan clearly using Duffy as a press trap whenever he got the ball, he struggled throughout the game but it was the visitors’ late third goal that was truly excruciating. He did not see Jens Petter Hauge over his shoulder and hadn’t a fraction of the Norwegian’s pace to compensate for it as the Milan forward ran through with yards of space and tucked the ball home.

    It’s been a week from * for Duffy but it hasn’t occurred in a vacuum. After that bright goal-scoring start on his debut against Ross County in September, the overhit passes and positional errors became more frequent, even when they went unpunished, as against St Johnstone and in the first half against Hibernian. This is an ongoing issue in its full context.

    Both Duffy and Lennon are conscious of these underwhelming performances.

    Duffy admitted in a pre-match interview to Sky Sports before the Aberdeen game that he’s not been good enough while Lennon defended his player last week with the (compelling) argument that his lack of football prior to signing has impacted his displays: “Shane didn’t play any football for nine months. All of a sudden, he’s played 14 games in about five weeks.”

    However, arguably the biggest issue isn’t with Duffy himself but with how he’s being used. Many of his errors are coming through exposure down the flanks or his being asked to distribute the ball. There have been a number of instances already this season when Duffy has been beaten to a loose ball by an opposition forward or overhit a long ball to the wing-backs, but he shouldn’t be in these situations as his two biggest deficiencies are his recovery pace and his passing. It often feels like Celtic are enabling his weaknesses rather than his strengths.

    When Duffy signed, concerns were raised over his suitability to play in a back four for a team such as Celtic but on the understanding that his signing was part of a more general shift towards a 3-5-2, as the middle centre-back, there was clearly logic behind the recruitment. If Duffy was signed as a clear-cut stopper, asked to do nothing more than block, tackle and head anything that approached his penalty area as far away from it as physically possible, then the move could be seen as shrewd.

    The crux of the problem is that he’s instead being asked to be an all-rounder, to do everything a normal Celtic centre-back does; or at least, normal since Ronny Deila first established playing out from the back as an integral style for a possession-dominant team, a philosophy Brendan Rodgers subsequently cultivated. But Duffy can’t fulfil that role, because he isn’t a modern defender. He isn’t like Kristoffer Ajer, Dedryck Boyata, Virgil van Dijk, Christopher Jullien, or — for all his other faults — Jozo Simunovic.

    There’s an argument Duffy might be better protected in a back four, and excel as he has previously for Brighton and Ireland, when all he has to do is defend his box. Against Aberdeen was the first time Celtic started in a back four with Duffy, and he looked just as uncomfortable. When Ntcham crashed Lewis Ferguson to the ground for Aberdeen’s first penalty, it was in Duffy’s zone as he was the right-sided centre-back that Ntcham was covering.

    Then, in the second half, with Celtic pressing for a second goal after equalising early on, he was complacently caught in possession for Aberdeen’s second. Minutes later, he let Sam Cosgrove in for a potential third before Diego Laxalt covered well to block. He was also complicit in the stramash at the end, which led to Aberdeen’s second penalty.

    The issue with Duffy and a back four is that Celtic don’t play like Chris Hughton’s iteration of Brighton — or like Ireland. They dominate possession for the majority of games and play with a high line to maintain pressure on the opposition.

    A back four for a team constantly in the ascendancy — especially with two full-backs as offensively-minded as Jeremie Frimpong and Laxalt — needs its centre-backs to be both capable on the ball and quick enough to recover when the opposition counter. He only fits in at Celtic if he’s in the middle of a protected back three, where he has only one job to do. That hasn’t happened yet, and is very unlikely to happen again soon now Celtic have reverted to a back four.

    Given that Duffy is reportedly having his full salary of £40,000 covered by Celtic, he’s their best-paid player this season. Celtic also paid a £2 million loan fee for his services. Price tags and wage packets shouldn’t necessarily determine expectations on a player recruited on a permanent deal but for a loan player in his prime, they inevitably do. It’s a huge outlay to not own a player outright, and one that demands a level of performance to justify it.

    Whether it’s down to Duffy himself, the tactical set-ups, the responsibilities he’s being tasked with — or, as is likely, all three — he’s not even justifying his inclusion in the starting XI at the moment.

    But to reiterate the opening argument, his issues, as illustrated by Celtic’s inscrutable midfield shape and dire defensive organisation in the final 15 minutes at Pittodrie, are merely symptomatic of a more destitute malaise.
     
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  16. Pearse67*

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    I felt the exact same when i seen his age.
     
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  17. Pearse67*

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    Dont disagree with any of this, just doesnt suit our style of play, although at the minute im struggling to understand what our style is myself.
     
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  18. Henrik 07 Gold Member Gold Member

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    NL on Duffy: “He’s just had a bumpy week but he’s a quality player. He made a mistake at the weekend but first-half he was excellent. He’s a human being and he made a mistake, but he shouldn’t be hung out to dry for it. He has my full support.”
     
  19. CookieMonster Geez yer cookies Gold Member

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    Only 1 mistake that was punished, could of been more. Not even to mention the Milan game.
     
  20. James Gold Member Gold Member

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    'He made a mistake' he * apologised the week prior to his 'mistake'

    I hand on heart at this moment in time would rather have kept Jozo on
     
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