Duffer

[NeilMcD]

I am a big fan of Damien Duff and I think his game has improved hugely from a defensive side since he has gone to Chelsea. His tracking back is brilliant and it is one of the main reasons that he gets picked every week when other players are rotated more often. However I do think he has lost a bit of the magic he had before and I think he has admitted that he has become much tactial as he has got older. However I do believe that he has not taken an Ireland game by the scruff of the neck in the last few years. He is potentially our best player but I cant remember a competitive game in recnet where he was man of the match, other than maybe Russia at home . He is 26 years old he is at his prime but yet I dont feel he is having the same impact that Keane did on the team when he was at his prime. Againts France he did not get a kick against Sagnol. Robbie Keane gets so much over the top criticism on this board whereas Duff does not get any in comparison. This is not having a pop at Duff just a call for some balance really.

[Stuttgart88]

Faroes at home? OK, it's not exactly what you're saying though.

Good sides double & triple mark him. The fact is that this should create openings elsewhere & yet we've never had the guile to exploit this. Could you imagine the gaps we'd leave if we put 2 or 3 men on someone like Thierry Henry?

[Condex]

Duff hasn't played well lately, rubbish in the Faroes, ok against Israel and rubbish again against France

[M@ttitude]

He should have been moved to a more central role in the last half hour of the france game and Kilbane out on the left, I was pretty hyped about Brian Kerr as manager at the start but his imagination seems to be poor considering we have very skillfully minded players that can cause problems for defences, maybe Sagnol who is a world class player figured Duff out on the night but that doesnt mean Boumsong did, Sagnol would then have to stop Kilbane from running out of the stadium while Duffer could surge forward playing off Morrisson and Keane, bit late now after watching the game but a good manager would have tried a tricky move like that rather than relying in the genius of Doherty who cant get his game as a centre half for Norwich to rescue us with the winner against one of the worlds best team.

[Green Army Girl]

I think Duff is one of best player we have but because we build him up so much when he doesnt play well we r all moaning about how he use to be. i would like to see him go at the opposition more like he use to but i wouldnt be thinking about dropping him jusy yet! Anyway why do we have to concentrate on players like Duff, the two Keanes etc what about players like Kenny Cunningham they never get any praise and he is consistently good.

[M@ttitude]

what about players like Kenny Cunningham they never get any praise and he is consistently good.
He gets enough praise for what he does, HIS JOB.. We need our star players to change games, control them. Good defenders will never be hyped up as much as attackers.

[Green Army Girl]

Good defenders will never be hyped up as much as attackers.[/QUOTE]

Why should they especially the way we play. We score one or two goals max so we depend on excellent defenders like Kenny.

[M@ttitude]

Why should they especially the way we play. We score one or two goals max so we depend on excellent defenders like Kenny..

I have read your post six times but cant figure out what you mean.

[thejollyrodger]

Fair point Neil, no player or club is beyond critisim. Chelsea do seem to be a defensively minded team and anyone who plays for them has to improve on their defensive game.

Duffer has improved in that area but doesnt look as threatening going forward. His assests would have been far better utilised with the likes of Barca

[Green Army Girl]

Good defenders will never be hyped up as much as attackers.

Why should they especially the way we play. We score one or two goals max so we depend on excellent defenders like Kenny.[/QUOTE]


I should have wrote why shouldnt they, sorry. I think that defenders should be getting the praise because of the way we play we dont score many goals so we have to hold onto our lead and thats where great defenders like Cunningham come in.

[NeilMcD]

I think Duff is one of best player we have but because we build him up so much when he doesnt play well we r all moaning about how he use to be. i would like to see him go at the opposition more like he use to but i wouldnt be thinking about dropping him jusy yet! Anyway why do we have to concentrate on players like Duff, the two Keanes etc what about players like Kenny Cunningham they never get any praise and he is consistently good.


Is there anybody here that posted that we should drop Duff. I am not moaning about him. I am offering what I think is contructive criticism. He is not beyond criticism but I have noticed that he very rarely gets criticised on these boards whereas other players get it from various quarter. The reason I would criticise him in anyway is that he has the talent to do it. Kilbane is a bad passer of the ball but thats not his fault thats just the abiltiy or lakc of that he has. I expect more from Duff is the main point of my post. When it was needed our main man in 2001 did it for us and I would like Duff to step up to that mantle now.

[thejollyrodger]

Duff has one of his worst games against france.

[Stuttgart88]

Radio 5 Live made the point recently that neither Duff nor Robben is taking on players like they used to. Short simple passes are favoured due to a fear of giving the ball away. It's as if their flare is being coached out of them. I don't hear Dion Fanning giving out about Mourinho being cautious in his approach to every game.

But it was obvious that Duff's form dipped around March last year, even a bit earlier. By the time we got to the Faroes game in June the poor guy was simply exhausted.

[Green Army Girl]

I would like to see him go at the opposition more like he use to but i wouldnt be thinking about dropping him just yet!

that was the quote, notice the exclamation mark. I wasnt speaking to you directly and i do agree with some of your points especially the one where he has the talent he has shown us before and i do think he hasnt played that well for Ireland in the past few games. You must think i always have it in for you i just think there are other players on the team that should be recognised and praised

[NeilMcD]

I would like to see him go at the opposition more like he use to but i wouldnt be thinking about dropping him just yet!

that was the quote, notice the exclamation mark. I wasnt speaking to you directly and i do agree with some of your points especially the one where he has the talent he has shown us before and i do think he hasnt played that well for Ireland in the past few games. You must think i always have it in for you i just think there are other players on the team that should be recognised and praised


Why woould I think that you have it in for me. Its just posting about football so I doubt you would have it in for me. I dont understand why you even mentioned dropping Duff as thats something that wont happen for the forseeable future.

[Green Army Girl]

I would like to see him go at the opposition more like he use to but i wouldnt be thinking about dropping him just yet!

I was being sarcastic!

[NeilMcD]

Are you sure it was sarcasm or was it irony

Sarcasm is sneering, jesting, or mocking a person, situation or thing. It is often used in a humorous or ironical manner and is expressed through vocal intonations such as over-emphasizing the actual statement or particular words.

Irony is a form of speech in which the real meaning is concealed or contradicted by the words used. Irony involves the perception that things are not what they are said to be or what they seem

[paul_oshea]

@Are you sure it was sarcasm or was it irony @


neill i dont have to correct you again do I???

[Green Army Girl]

Are you sure it was sarcasm or was it irony

Sarcasm is sneering, jesting, or mocking a person, situation or thing. It is often used in a humorous or ironical manner and is expressed through vocal intonations such as over-emphasizing the actual statement or particular words.

Irony is a form of speech in which the real meaning is concealed or contradicted by the words used. Irony involves the perception that things are not what they are said to be or what they seem


Ill take sarcasm, thanks.

[NeilMcD]

So who or what, were you mocking, jeering or jesting.

[Green Army Girl]

So who or what, were you mocking, jeering or jesting.

I was jessing about Duff is everything ok now i hope i have explained myself well enough for you hope we can get on the subject now, i enjoy these chats :)

[paul_oshea]

you two wont fool the children of the revolution.

[eirebhoy]

It's also worth pointing out that Duff didn't have a good game against Anderlecht on Tuesday (from what I gather)
Duff was one of the better players against Anderlecht. I was pleasantly suprised he was taken on players and succeeding while Robben was continuing his poor start to the season by giving away possession half the time he had the ball. Duff won the freekick which led to the goal by dribbling past a couple of players. I enjoyed watching him in a Chelsea shirt for the first time in a long time. Don't ask me what the media was watching.

Not the greatest game. But Essien and Duff were solid.
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Not a great performance but we got the win and thats all that matters I was pleased with Essien Duff and Gallas at lb
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Ally McCoist just made Lampard his MOM with 8 out of 10 while Duff got a 5. You have to wonder if he was actually watching the game.
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Duff was excellent again and SWP should have been brought on alot earlier.
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Duff was no doubt my MOTM with a sterling performance and we can see how he does very well concentrating on the attacking role.
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Essien, & Duff were our best players.
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Duff was probably the best player in the first half yet gets a 6 by Sky Sports. He must have set high standards or the rater is a bit biased.
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Haha voodoo! Duff was rated 6 by the same SkySports and do you believe? His mesmerising runs in the first half led to the freekick that Lamps scored.
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Duffer did well but Robben, in my opinion, had a stinker, with most of his passes being either under or overhit.

http://www.cfcnet.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10982

I have always been banging on about Mourinho not giving Duff more freedom but I was happy to see that he has not forgotten he can play.

He had a blinder against Italy, mainly because Lippi didn't tell anyone to mark him. People have copped on now. France had 3 players on him whenever he had the ball. I'd love to see the old Duffer ripping up the wings but at the end of the day, the old Duffer might not have got us 5 assists this WC campaign, this Duffer has.

[tetsujin1979]

OK, good to hear he played well. I didn't see the game, and was just going on the comments being made when I turned on the telly (ITV) at the end of the game. They said the wide men underperformed and showed Duff getting the ball in space and instead of running with it, he stopped and tried to pass, and lost the ball. They were saying he should have run with the ball as he had space in front of him.
That does sound like Mourinho's tactics, keeping possession and working the ball forward, rather than breaking forward and taking a chance. It may be negative, but they are top of the table with a 100% record

[brine3]

Duff is obviously Ireland's greatest attacking threat so international teams tend to close down on him. Saying "he didn't get a look in against Sagnol" is unfair, because not only Sagnol, but half the French defence was marking him. Teams playing Chelsea have other multi-million pound attacking threats to worry about so Duff gets slightly more freedom.

If Duff is being marked by three French players then you can understand why he isn't producing moment after moment of magic. This doesn't have to be a bad thing though, because if he is keeping players occupied it means that it opens up more possibilities for attack for other players. This is why we need an attacking ball player (i.e. not Kilbane) in the centre of the park, so we can profit from Duff being marked out of the match.

[Colie]

Critisism smritisism. He mighn't be as good as he was from the perspective of taking players on but he's still our best player. He's had to change his game because he's being marked out of it. I LOVE Duffers. He is a Hero.

[livehead1]

i agree he is class but i miss that adrenalin rush that i used to get every time he got the ball knowing that he was gonna do something magical with it. his final season with blackburn will live long in my memory as i dont think he will ever be that type of player again...also, he needs to score more goals for us

[thejollyrodger]

Personally I dont think Duff is the main problem, I think its the whole English mentality towards football. The whole anglo saxon approach to football is to remove individual skill and fit into the 4-4-2 system.

When barca played chelsea it showed the 4-4-2 system up , one was all about physical attributes and straight lines and the other was all about skill and football.

[Slash/ED]

But Chelsea don't play 4-4-2 and iirc didn't play it against Barca either :confused:

I too miss the buzz of watching the Duff of old.

[Stuttgart88]

No, but jr's main point still holds. It seems that just about everywhere the game is becoming increasingly skillful. What I've seen of the Premiership so far this season has been all about discipline, strength & physicality, rare moments of skill excepted. Once the WC comes around this style of football won't fare well IMHO.

On Duffer: his performances against Denmark in early 2002 (?) & against Sapin in Suwon will live with me forever. I think he's an all round better player now, but seems to have had the adventurous spirit coached out of him & in favour of discipline & ball-retention at all costs.

[Qwerty]

Not sure I agree, Greece are Euro champions thanks to discipline, strength & physicality. Germany got to the WC final because of these traits. Brazil also have these traits since '94 when they saw the error of their ways - they also of course have the sublime gifts of Ronaldo, Adriano, Ronaldinho etc. These are the traita any good team is built upon. Braxil have used a system every bit as much as Germany.