Damien Duff

From today's Guardian:

"[Wenger] had said that he planned to give Almunia “a few games”, but last night he declined to confirm who would go between the posts when Arjen Robben, Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard come to Highbury. "

Drogba - the guy who keeps missing from Duff's pinpoint crosses? What about Duff - the world class winger who has scored 4 in 6?

When Duff joined Chelsea my know-it-all mate said he'd never get a game ahead of Zenden. Just because Zenden was Dutch presumably.

Robben appears to be a class act alright but if Duff was English or from somewhere exotic he'd be put on a pedastal by the English media.

On the same point, if Arsenal are struggling for a solid reliable 'keeper why not pick up Kiely? If he was from the continent he'd be heralded as the Premiership's most consistent 'keeper of the last 3 or 4 years. I'm sure he'd only cost about £1m.

Apparently ITV drew attention to Arsenal's "English" 'keeper Graham Stack last night!

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Originally Posted by M@ttitude

If Duff was English, he'd be hailed the new George Best, Pele, Roooooney, thank god he's not.. :ball:

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Duff gets loads of praise over here and is always being raved about by Chelski heads after the games on the radio-phone-in shows.
Have to say, his decision to move down to London has been vindicated, whatever happens now. He's shown that he can produce it at the top level.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

On the same point, if Arsenal are struggling for a solid reliable 'keeper why not pick up Kiely? If he was from the continent he'd be heralded as the Premiership's most consistent 'keeper of the last 3 or 4 years. I'm sure he'd only cost about £1m!

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Or they could simply recall Stuart Taylor from Leicester City.
Jens Lehman wants to play in a tour with Germany in the New Year so Wenger needed to "blood" his reserve keeper.
Now was as good a time as any.
Kiely isn't up to the hectic schedule of a top European club.

II'd forgotten about Taylor. 've always thought Taylor was an accident waiting to happen, though he was very young when he played all those games for Arsenal a few years back and was certainly more reliable than Almunia.

I was at Highbury last night and the whole ground was embarassed for Almunia. It was almost comical.

Interesting point about Kiely.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

I was at Highbury last night and the whole ground was embarassed for Almunia. It was almost comical.

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Were you part of the ironic cheer in the 89th minute when he finally punched the ball instead of trying to catch it? He has potential to be a good keeper though.
The only Irish keeper good enough for Arsenal is Shay Given and I can't see him moving south. Graham Stack seems to have blown his chance. Innocent until proven guilty though. Pennant is proof that Wenger is willing to give players a second chance.
Didn't see the Chelsea v Newcastle game at the weekend but how good was Duff in his attack which lead to the penalty?
Given wasn't booked as far as I remember.
I think it's important for Ireland to have a player who can force keepers into mistakes.

Yep, I was a contributor to the ironic cheer alright.

Millwall has continued to select Stack, despite his legal "troubles". Until last night when it looks like he was dropped.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Until last night when it looks like he was dropped.

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And they won.

I'm delighted that Damien has proved that all the doubters were wrong. I wouldn't be too bothered over his still relatively low profile. He's well loved by Chelsea fans and last saturday George Graham (yeah I know) went out of his way to say he was a more important player than Robben.

I posted a few weeks ago that the only thing missing from his game was scroring goals and he's fixed that big time.

If he continues the way he's going he'll be well in with a shout for the end of season awards.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

I was at Highbury last night.

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Did you sing 'He's only 17 and better than Roy Keane' about Fabregas??

No, I ignored that one!

Ah come on now, did you even hum it??

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

No, I ignored that one!

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You were clearly in the West Stand so then. :D

Will you be there on Sunday to watch Duffer winning another penalty?
I think Chelsea have too much for Arsenal in midfield and although the tight pitch will restrict Duff, he should still be more than a handful for Cole and/or Hoyte depending what role he plays.
He's surely aware of the fact that the Arsenal keepers really struggle with crosses and dead ball deliveries.

I think fantasy football also shows the public view that Robben is more effective than Duff. Robben is selected by 50,000 teams while Duff is just selected by 20,000 teams. Duff and Robben are their to score and assist goals and the public clearly think Robben is more effective. Never mind the fact that Duff costs 9.3m and Robben costs 9.9m. It really annoys me. :mad: A lot of end of season awards are voted by the fans and if there was a vote between the two tomorrow Robben would win without a shadow of a doubt.

It was good to hear Ally (sp?) McCoist last night saying that when Duff went off for Robben Chelsea lost their spark. An interesting fact BTW is that Chelsea's 3 CL goals conceded have all come when Duff had been substituted so they have not conceded 1 CL goal when Duff was on the pitch. :)

5 goals and 7 assists in 14 CL and premiership starts BTW. What would we do without Duffer? :p

No, I won't be there. I only get tickets for Arsenal sporadically. Just as well at £34 a go.

It'll be an interesting game though. I'm hoping for an Arsenal win but not sure they'll cope without Vieira and the two Brazilians. Chelsea have yet to be properly tested yet though. They've won against MUFC, L'pool and Newcastle but anyone would have beaten MUFC on the first day of this season and Newcastle were missing a lot. Liverpool were utter rubbish on the day too.

Anyway, enough about English football...

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Anyway, enough about English football...

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It's virtually impossible to discuss Ireland players without mentioning English football I'm afraid.

I have to say I think Duff is an exceptional talent, it is always a pleasure
to watch him play.

Probably the most talented Irishman to ever kick a ball.

(Apart from me :D :p ).

Ranieri on Robben and Duff :-

"Robben can grow to become the best player in the world but he's young and I don't want to put too much pressure on him.

"He asked my ideas about football and I told him I wanted him to be the key to open the door. He has everything, like Duff. When he signed I thought fantastic, 'I have two Damien Duffs!' My mother was very happy!"

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/sport/...icles/15202447

Jesus, talk about high praise:

Mourinho:
“Damien is our best player, he has been for the last six weeks. He is capable of winning a game on his own and his performances in our recent matches have been fantastic.

“Since Arjen Robben came back from his injury, everyone has been talking about Robben, Robben, Robben, but people forget about Damien. He has scored some incredible goals, his movement in an attacking and defensive sense is fantastic.

“We are going to Highbury to win this game and we’re in confident mood. All our forwards are in good form but Damien is the best of the lot.”

He had a quiet game today against Arsenal.

He didn't get into the game at all, I agree with Condex.

Having said that, very few players stamped their authority on the game, I could count them on one hand.

Ade