Incidently I think you can see the Chelsea match in the UK on ITV4 (freeview) tomorrow.
Don't want to miss those back passes do we.;)
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Incidently I think you can see the Chelsea match in the UK on ITV4 (freeview) tomorrow.
Don't want to miss those back passes do we.;)
Yeah, you are all right. Duff is finished. Let's hound him into retirement like everyone did with Stephen Carr. There are a plethora of decent alternatives. My choice would be Premier League winner and Champions League superstar Mark Kennedy to take Duff's spot. If not, we could move the mercurial Kevin Kilbane back to the left...my only problem with this is who will then boss the midfield and set the tempo and protect the back four. Maybe not he's too valuable there. Or Andy Reid. Thankfully he's getting lots of time at Spurs and setting the Premiership on fire. Those 7 or 8 minutes against Arsenal were world class. Unlike Duff who hasn't got a look in at Chelsea for the past few weeks. Or maybe Alan Quinn? Everyone has been clamouring for his inclusion.
Let's start the campaign in earnest to get rid of Duff now. At 26, his best days are behind him, he will never ever play well for Ireland again and we are in a position of such amazing strength and depth that we wont miss him at all.
Yours sincerely
Jose...I mean Kevin
No defender would figure out what made Duff tick :). He was unstoppable 2 or 3 years ago. He's still regarded as Chelsea's best winger by their fans so he's doing something right.Quote:
Originally Posted by thejollyrodger
http://home.skysports.com/list.asp?h...ampions_leagueQuote:
Mourinho also revealed that Irish winger Damien Duff has made a quick recovery from knee surgery and will play some part in Tuesday night's UEFA Champions League clash against Real Betis.
The former Blackburn star was expected to be out for a month after picking up the injury on international duty with Republic of Ireland, but after returning ahead of schedule Mourinho hailed the comeback of the star as an example for the rest of the squad.
"Damien is a great player and a special character," Mourinho continued.
"He is very important for us and a great example of how important it is to be a tough guy to recover from surgery like he did.
"The medical department is brilliant and worked incredibly well with him. It is a big award for them to have got him ready to play tomorrow and for sure he will play."
Duff himself was keen to brush aside notions that Chelsea's recent results represented a blip in form, but insisted that the players were unhappy at failing to maintain their 100 percent domestic record.
"Last week was disappointing," admitted Duff.
"I think many people were seeing it as a crisis, or a mini crisis, but we weren't.
"We didn't feel that way at all it was only two draws, it shows how strong we are to bounce back in the way we did against Blackburn last Saturday.
"We were still positive. We had worst points during last season. The way we looked at it was that they were only two draws."
Damien seems like a nice enough fellow but I have to say I don't give a damn about his fitness. His recent displays for Ireland have been pitiful and he's part of the reason our national team is on hiatus.
He's not to blame tbh. A mixture of Jose Mourinho and being the only threat in the team (so being marked by 4 players) is. We seen how good he is when teams don't bother to man mark him (vs Italy).Quote:
Originally Posted by BobbySands
Yep agree. Its been a while since we last saw him leave a few defenders standing in his wake.Quote:
Originally Posted by totalfootball
i would take eirebhoys point of view on this one , makelele had the french team warned about his threat for the french game and it showed.
for Chelsea...should be interesting how he does, Chelsea need goals.
Duff, Robin, Cole...looks like he is copying Stans tactics :D
is it on the internet anywheres ?
Its on ITV1 in the UK, don't know about elsewhere.
I would think there is a good chance of it being on the internet
somewhere, it's a real big match.
duff is having, what can only politely described, as an absolute shocker. chelski arent playing like a team that need 2 goals. not even close.
Usual thing for Duff, he needs to be at the centre of the game or else he tries to chase it too much, compare to Robben who doesnt seem too fussed what else hapens but whenever he gets the ball he keeps going until he shoots. Seems odd though for Mourinho to try a system like this for the first time here, it obviously doesnt work and he's wasted 2/3 of the game proving it.
Thing is Chelsea need goals, anyway Duff subbed, Barc score, great
goal from Ronaldinho game over. Barcalona are obviously a great side.
He was playing near enough left back, only made one cross in the whole game, Gallas hardly got forward at all. Delighted for Chelsea, serves them right for spending all that money to play unattractive football. Super goal, its not often you see Terry knocked out of the way.Quote:
Originally Posted by Roverstillidie
barca threatened to spank chelskib ut never quite got motoring.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kowalski
duff gave away a lot of silly fouls and got pegged back along with the rest of chelski's midfield. totally outplayed and outthought. the sulky head on mourihinio was suoer. a great day for football all round.
no doubt livehead will be on soon to tell us english football is still the worlds best :D
I have to say, while Duff was poor going forward as he usually is for Chelsea, I thought he was one of the few players trying before he got subbed. The likes of Cole, Lampard and Robben didn't seem too bothered about losing. At least Duff was putting in the tackles and showed he actually cared. He shouldn't have been taken off, I said it at the time and it was all one way traffic when he was taken off.
I can imagine Larsson telling Ronnie and co how well Duff played last Wednesday. They must have thought they mistaked him for someone else last night because as soon as he puts that blue jersey on he looks like Kilbane when trying to go past someone. :)
You are right Duff did work his arse off but i think he tries too hard playing for Chelsea and just can't perform the way he usually can.I hope that he moves on and finds a manager that lets him play the football he is best at.
Robert Huth up front ha ha.
Like they said on Newstalk 106 "Robert Huth - Chelsea's answer to Gary Doherty!"Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
can you please locate me to where i said that english football is the best league in the world, if not i expect you to withdraw your comments.Quote:
Originally Posted by Roverstillidie
However, on a side issue, a critic may argue that the current holders of the premier club competition in certainly european, and possible world football, is indeed an english side, liverpool. :D
Absolute shocker of a game and I was really expecting a top notch game. Chelsea made look very ordinary, Duff was very poor. Question marks over Mourinho too, why take off Drogba for Crespo, what not go with two up front, they needed goals.
well done livehead, poxed the heysel killers well and good.Quote:
Originally Posted by livehead1
remember your 'i noticed graham kavanagh when he transfered to the premiership' 'too many foreigners in england keeping the irish out' and 'who is this dicker lad charlton are after' show me enough about your football view.
you are obsessed with the english premier league and it woudnt surprise any regular readers here if you came out with 'ronaldihinio is ok, but he hsnt proved himself in engerland yet'
back in the real world:
duffers probem at chelski is that jose plays such a rigid system he has to stifle his natural game just to fit in to a side where he is just another great player, wheras v sweden he just went out and ran amock.
would a move suit his game, if not his wallet?
so what you are saying is that you can't find anywhere where i said that it was the best league in the world, but because i take a keen interest in it, i must believe it to be the case. Lets try and stick to the facts here, i never said that, instead of trying to slate me at every oppurtunity on every thread, and on matters which aren't even true.Quote:
Originally Posted by Roverstillidie
Ah come Livehead dont tell me you really said that!Quote:
Originally Posted by Roverstillidie
didn't use the term foreigners, but i don't think its any great shock to anyone that the case is that for example, a spanish import such as Nunez for liverpool last season, without him there, we could have seen Potter get more games. Or Kleberson and manutd, maybe Miller could have had a few more games. These players are seen as better as they come from other parts of the world, when in all truth they are no better, yet the hamper the progress of young irish players at english clubs.Quote:
Originally Posted by gustavo
Irish people come from another part of the world too...
lol!! dont be so precise, you know exactly what i meant, but i will clarify for you. What was meant as in a different part of the world, e.g. spain, brazil, different areas of europe, or different continents. we're very close to england in proximity, its hardly another part of the world,Quote:
Originally Posted by gustavo
the question you should be askin is what divine right do irish players have to play at english clubs over players from other nations?
thats a very good comment, but was just saying that there blocking the way, not that our players have a divine right. Some managers seem to favour a spanish, french etc import, there have been so many flops, where we on this forum can see that there are irish players more than capable of doing a job for their clubs, who don't get a chance. Elliot and McCarthy never got a chance under keegan at City, and then when McCarthy left, keegan was quoted saying he had no doubt McCarthy would turn into a premiership defender. If so, why not give him a chance!Quote:
Originally Posted by klein4
Loads and loads of Irish flops too livehead.
The question we should ask is why are Irish players just concerned with playing in the Premiership (or that other league we're not allowed to mention unless it's on its own thread)?
...but it was a quality bit of geography all the same....
probably has something to do with speaking the same language. that said, i would love to see more irish players in france, spain, italy etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by lopez
Anothe reason is how many scouts are there in Ireland from non British scouts. Players can only decide to play for teams that are looking to sign them. If there are no scouts from Spanish French or Italian clubs willing to come to Ireland the players are only left with the possibility of playing in Ireland or for British clubs.
It is a factor, but it's also a cop out as obviously there are plenty of players in the Premiership who don't speak English as a first language (remember Cantona's almost two seasons without being able to converse in English) so why can't Irish players go abroad?Quote:
Originally Posted by livehead1
In fact the few who have, most have been successful. Brady of course, but what about Alan Campbell with Racing Santander and Liam Buckley with Waregem. Don't forget these players were on the fringe of the fringe during Hand's time with Eamonn O'Keefe of Port Vale ffs:rolleyes: getting a game at Wembley. Too mediocre for the FL of course.:rolleyes: Kevin Moran had a good spell at Gijon. Stapleton joined Ajax too late and Harte could have done better at Levante.
No. The real reason that Irish players end up in England is that everything is set up to send them one way over the channel. And when they get the chance to broaden their horizons, even some of the best are too insecure to take the plunge, and end up going to C*lt*c.
Plus we generally don't have technically great players who would be able to cut it outside of the Brit leagues, where effort is more appreciated than skill
It does help if you can speak the language which is a big barrierQuote:
Originally Posted by lopez
unless you are already an established player.
Well players from Denmark, Sweden and Norway are far more of the hoofer variety than Keane, Duff or (on last Wednesday's performance) Miller could ever be, but they still manage to play outside the premiership (some in Italy and Spain).Quote:
Originally Posted by Dodge
They have this thing now called 'language lessons'. I believe there are a number of them in Ireland that are nowadays for foreigners entering the country and hoping to pick up a job in Abrakebabra. Anyway, don't they teach you a foreign language (apart from English) at Irish schools?Quote:
Originally Posted by tricky_colour
That's more like it. Neo-colonialism at its best.:rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD