Damien Duff

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Originally Posted by pete

Opponents have realised that Ireland only have 1 attacking force. Put 2 to 3 players on him & game over. Most obviously shown when played France at home in the last qualifier. Irish teams have proven unable to use the space that double marking Duff causes as the rest of the midfield pedestrian.

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I agree with that completely - but man-marking is nothing new and if a player is being marked out of a game (like Duff was so comprehensively against France for example) then something needs to change. Switch wings, move into the middle ... just vary things to try and get the talented players like Duff more involved. When he was at Chelsea (and in the team!) him and Robben would often switch wings when things weren't working. I don't know if this is down to Duff, or to the manager, or to the captain but someone needs to recognise when things aren't working during a match and change things round.

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Originally Posted by pete

Opponents have realised that Ireland only have 1 attacking force. Put 2 to 3 players on him & game over. Most obviously shown when played France at home in the last qualifier. Irish teams have proven unable to use the space that double marking Duff causes as the rest of the midfield pedestrian.

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exactly...none of the others seem to want the ball....how do you get to that level as a footballer and no want the ball:(

Duffers career is heading to the waste ground. Signing on at the shambles that is Newcastle United could put the final nail in his career coffin. He should have moved abroad or tried to wangle a move to Celtic.

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Originally Posted by Billsthoughts

exactly...none of the others seem to want the ball....how do you get to that level as a footballer and no want the ball:(

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It's down to a lack of confidence and a lack of real leadership

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Originally Posted by Emmet

It's down to a lack of confidence and a lack of real leadership

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I think the lack of skill doesnt help either. Last night our two Central midfielders couldnt play a pass.....i suppose actually having central nidfielders playing there would help though.

Agree with your points though

Yes - a lack of skill is also a contributing factor!! I'm hoping we can turn in a good performance next month in Cyprus that will re-gain some of the confidence ... even bad players can do alright when they are feeling confident!

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Originally Posted by McGeady10

He should have moved abroad or tried to wangle a move to Celtic.

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I know you are biased but bad as all Newcastle may be Celtic would not be a step up.

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Originally Posted by McGeady10

He should have moved abroad or tried to wangle a move to Celtic.

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He would look good in that league. Not sure it would necessarily improve his career beyond a couple of CL games a season.

Duffer was ok. He had two men near him every time the ball was near him. If the other 3 donkeys in MF made more of possession it might open up some space for him. He'll come good, class doesn't just disappear over night.

I thought he had a good opening 20 minutes but fell out of the picture after that. The whole team did though to be fair and I felt only for some resolute defending and goalkeeping they could have got 3 or 4. If Dunne had scored at the end it would have been an injustice on the Germans, delighted as I'd have been though.

I'm sure it must be a confidence thing with Duff and I agree with Eirebhoy that he was hardly ever 1 on 1. Hopefully he can start getting that confidence back with Newcastle and help benefit us.

In responce to Emmets comment about O'Brien showing he can handle this level with that 1 run....encouraging as it was because it showed he had no fear, knocking it 20 yards up the line and chasing after it does NOT show talent- it shows speed. I might add nothing came of it but it did show that his pace can be an asset providing there is an end product.

Duff played well when Ireland were playing well because all our creativity came down the left hand side. After that the Germans aren't stupid and just took him out when he looked to go past players. Frings got him with a particularly nice 2 footer in the first half which didn't merit a booking, there were at least 2 other bookable tackles on him in the first half.
The real issue is that our central midfield is so weak that both Keane and Reid spent most of their night dropping back or coming inside to help out. So our only other outlet was balls over the top to Doyle (who I thought played well in the circumstances) with options that limited it's not difficult to ensure there was always 2 players covering Duff.

Just as in the last campaign Duff was double marked a lot. The opposition could afford to do this because our central miodfield is weak. If we can add an attacking threat from the middle Duff's contribution would be more telling. Also, when he does get in a position to send the ball in, Robbie & Doyle were always going to struggle to beat the Germans in the air.

Duff's substitution was baffling though. Why not use 3 at the back for last 15 mins, and increase the number of attacking players we have on the pitch?

In my opinion he was rightly substituted. He was poor and hasn't delivered in an Ireland shirt for a long long time.
All the crap on telly about it being baffling ? Was it just cos it was Duffer ?
No player should be above a substitution and as for him throwing a sulk sitting on his own at the end of the bench, grow up lad.
Maybe that was the kick in the h*le he needs, that or tell him that every game is a friendly.

I would think he is fecked off with being marked out of the game all the time. Its as plain as day that everytime Duff starts the opposition double up on him. On Saturday Stephen Reid had acres of space on the right hand side where the germans had pulled their markers across but we didnt do enough with it. We had a lot of possession down that right side in the first half and a number of corners to go with it but that came from the opposition teaming up on Duff and allowing Reid and Carr some space to work.

As already stated in other threads , someone else must step up to the plate now and start taking players on so that our opponents take one of those men off Duff and give him more one on one opportunities. He must be p'ssed off with it, but that comes because he is a great player.

The suggestion that he hasnt done it for us in recent games and should be dropped/subbed etc is utter nonsense. The real problem is that we dont have anyone else to take off some of the burden. If I was playing Ireland I would just double up on Duff and leave OShea/Kilbane/Reid whoever , free, because I would be confident that they dont have enough to hurt me.

We have got to find someone else to do a bit of magic and fast. Maybe McGeady is the answer. Perhaps O'Brien on one side and Duff the other who knows. This is why we should have been hammering out friendlies as much as possible going into this campaign- we need to find a new formation.

I hate to say it , but with 20 minutes to go I was wishing that we had a Niall Quinn on the bench to lump some balls up to because we are far too predictable at the moment.

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Originally Posted by wallis

The suggestion that he hasnt done it for us in recent games and should be dropped/subbed etc is utter nonsense. The real problem is that we dont have anyone else to take off some of the burden. If I was playing Ireland I would just double up on Duff and leave OShea/Kilbane/Reid whoever , free, because I would be confident that they dont have enough to hurt me.

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Exactly. Sad thing is it was this problem that was our downfall in the last campaign too. Why can't anyone notice?

Good news on the injury front.

Duff comes on for Newcastle after 69 minutes tonight against Levadia Tallinn.
Newcaslte leading 2-1 (3-1 on Aggregate)

Robbie Keane just scored against Slavia Prague

Yeah I was pleased to see that Duff came on and Keane looked a different player after he scored according to the lads on TV3.

When did RK last score? Has he scored in P'ship yet?

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Originally Posted by DeNiro

When did RK last score? Has he scored in P'ship yet?

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They mentioned it was his first goal since April.