Shane Duffy D Norwich b.1992

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Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks

I only watched the Wigan, Ipswich and Blackpool games and he kept two clean sheets and wasn't directly at fault for either Wigan goal.

I would have neither in the team but using the Serbia, Costa Rica and Portugal games as a reference point for Keogh and the Italy game as a frame of reference for Pearce, I would feel a lot, lot safer with Pearce in the back four.

Pearce may have had a bad game but it would be remiss to pretend Keogh hasn't had any too.

And my apologies, Pearce's Reading conceded 4 more and scored much less than Derby last season.

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You do realise I asked you a simple question about Alex Pearce and absolutely nothing about Richard Keogh yeah? And what's all this crap about Keogh conceding (more/less) goals in a team who are better at attacking? Liverpool conceded goals left, right and centre last season despite being brilliant going forward. Attack minded teams are generally more open at the back. I've seen plenty of Keogh to make up my own mind. I've seen very little of Pearce, that's why I asked if Reading's goals conceded total was reflective of his own personal performances. I'm more than aware that it's not always the case, but he was pretty bad in the one game I saw. Obviously you haven't seen enough to know either.

-I agree that Pearce looked adequate against Italy.
-I also agree that Delaney should be ahead of both (although he was every bit as dodgy against Turkey as Keogh was against Serbia).
-I think Keogh stepping in for big games scares pretty much everybody, it certainly scares me. You don't have the monopoly on this. There's a difference between being scared and being absolutely obsessed beyond reason.
-Who is pretending that Keogh hasn't had any bad games (as you're implying above)?

Delorean, all I can say is, how selfish is Richard Dunne.

Goal line clearance and a header off the bar for Duffy in last weekend's game against Middlesbrough. Highlights below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSz0HcrlD9k

His presence and endeavour definitely contributed to the equaliser as well.

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Originally Posted by DannyInvincible

His presence and endeavour definitely contributed to the equaliser as well.

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If by 'presence and endeavour', you mean climbing all over the Middlesbrough player then I agree. :)

Look, if the ref never saw it... :p

Was it definitely a foul? I saw a bit of the 'Football League Show' and they were pretty clear they thought the goal shouldn't have stood. The ref was standing at the edge of the box, albeit at the far/top end with about ten bodies between himself and Duffy, so I'm not sure if he would have seen it. Either way, Duffy was attacking the ball in the dying moments. The defender didn't make much of an effort to challenge for it which probably made Duffy's leap look worse, or was it a case that the defender couldn't jump because he was so impeded? It seems to me he might have been leaving it for his keeper to collect. The defender's left arm also happens to be wrapped around Duffy's legs, which may well contribute to Duffy ending up pretty much kneeling on his back for a split second before tumbling to the ground hand-first.

No foul for me. The player makes no attempt to play the ball. It's not as if Duffy was keeping him from jumping for it. he just got up above him and gravity took care of the rest.

Duffy is up to 14th in the Championship stats, Alan Judge is second highest Irish player there at 16th
Daryl Murphy 24th. Alex Pearce if about 157th Pilkington 150th.

Richard Dune is about 53rd in the Premiership stats, which is pretty good, shame he has retired.

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Originally Posted by tricky_colour

Richard Dune is about 53rd in the Premiership stats, which is pretty good, shame he has retired.

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His performances have been dissected to a granular level since his retirement.
He has beached his international career. It's time we accepted that.
This ship has sailed. Stop harbouring a desire to see him return. It's pretty sili(con) to keep going on about it now still.

That's a cracking save on the three minute mark.

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Originally Posted by BonnieShels

His performances have been dissected to a granular level since his retirement.
He has beached his international career. It's time we accepted that.
This ship has sailed. Stop harbouring a desire to see him return. It's pretty sili(con) to keep going on about it now still.

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I agree, the sands of time wait for no man.

I think we'd have moved on much quicker if Delaney had been given the run his form merited.

Involved in Blackburn's opening goal with a well-timed tackle releasing Marshall, who teed up Rhodes. Had a chance late in the video too.
http://youtu.be/c6PuSMP-h0s

Blackburn's defenders under the microscope recently after a few suspect performances. It is Shane Duffy who is dropped for this afternoon's match against Wigan. Grant Hanley retains his place in the team so he can commit GBH on James McClean for 90 minutes, or until he's kicked off the pitch.

McClean will destroy Hanley with his pace.

Duffy was again left out of the team last night despite his motm performance against Swansea at the weekend. Hanley was back in and went off injured after 77mins but, unfortunately for Duffy, it isn't too serious.

Interesting interview with Duffy yesterday where he accepts he deserved to be dropped.

lancashiretelegraph.co.uk

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Originally Posted by DeLorean

Duffy was again left out of the team last night despite his motm performance against Swansea at the weekend. Hanley was back in and went off injured after 77mins but, unfortunately for Duffy, it isn't too serious.

Interesting interview with Duffy yesterday where he accepts he deserved to be dropped.

lancashiretelegraph.co.uk

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Was surprised to see Duffy back on the bench after the motm performance against Swansea. Judging from the comments below that article, the Blackburn fans would prefer a Duffy and Kilgallon partnership with Hanley left out.

Very odd decision to drop Duffy again after he answered the criticism with a good performance against a Premier League team (he did also have Rhodes and Gestede on the bench - a lot of chopping and changing). Always interesting to read the views of the supporters too.

After the loss to Derby, Bowyer gave out about the shocking defending which led to their concession of the two goals.

"It was a close game settled by two bits of shocking defending and two bits of Premiership-class finishing. "Derby are a terrific team with a great manager and a brilliant set-up. But we matched them for most of the game and then gave it away with bad defending."

It's clear that, despite a decent start, Bowyer sees issues with having two similar young defenders playing alongside each other now. He's gone with varying combinations of Duffy/Hanley & Kilgallon in recent games. That defence is unsettled. Another thing to consider is that Hanley, being his captain, is hard to drop.

Had a knee operation this morning - expecting to miss the rest of the season.

That's a shame. Hasn't been playing recently apart from 2 good performances in their FA Cup 'giant-killings'. Misses out on the quarter-final at anfield.