To put this simply, whether we like to admit it or not, Duff has been poor the last 2 months for Chelsea. He was crap against Birmingham on Saturday. He complained about having to play the China game and other than the Scúnthorpe match he hasn't missed a match for club or country since his first game (53 matches). I don't like seeing players being rested every second week but surely if you are playing an average of 3 matches every 2 weeks your body needs a rest.
The season is almost over so he should play til the end now but he needs a week or two rest (none or very little training) before the Israel game and I hope Kerr realises this. This season will do him good in the long term, I just can't wait til he's back to his best.
btw
yeah, but none of them were champions league matches, which at 16/17 extra games in the season are a serious strain.Originally Posted by Tuff Paddy
i makes you notice how good lampard and terry are that their form hasn't suffered at all, whilst playing in all these games as well
Every players is different but Frank Lampard has strung an amazing amount of games togehter over the last few seasons, He has missed very few and it does not do him any harm But every players is different and a great manager know who a to rest and who not to.
In Trap we trust
He's definitely lost his early season form alright and looks jaded. Kilbane looks knackered too if you ask me (except on Sunday).
Chelsea's squad has done well. For the first half of the season it was Duff & Robben doing all the damage. Of late it's been Lampard & Cole. The defence has been solid throughout. Whereas at Arsenal it's been all or nothing, they all play great together or they all underperform together.
When is the CL final? Around the middle of May? Even if it is as late as that we don't have the Israelis here until June 4th giving him nearly 3 weeks without a match which is a reasonable break. No doubt if that were to happen we'd be concerned that he'd not had a competitive game for 3 weeks and might be a bit rusty.
Premiership ends May 15, CL final on the 25th, which is quite close to the Ireland game, but that would only be one game between mid may and Israel, which isnt too bad.
And of course if Chelsea dont make the final he'll have a three week break.
Ok, so the worst case scenario is that he gets a week and a half break. That's not too bad.
3 weeks without a game but he should get a week or so off to rest.
BTW - Its only recently that Lampard started to work off the ball, he used to just stand around. Duffer never stops running. I remember Mourinho saying he took Duff off withj 15 minutes to go as it gives him a couple of miles less running to do.
indeed, if England won the world cup with the likes of Lampard it is not as much pain as them winning it with the likes of Beckham.... Dont get me wrong.. its still pain...
They won't win the WC with Lampard cos that means dropping Gerrard or Beckham which won't happen.(ie. they won't go far without a holding midfielder).
OT - Duff is trying to run with the ball tonight but is just losing it. It may be confidence...
They took him off early tonight, did not see the first half though....
The poor guy looked so lost out there tonight as he has for the last few matches.He needs a rest.The only problem is that Joe Cole is playing like a man pocessed and is improving all the time becoming more poplar with the chelsea fans.i hope that this wont affect Duff when Robin comes back as he will go straight into the team.It could work in our favor as Duff would be fresh but i hope it won't be counter productive in regard to his Chelsea prospects.
Mixed performance, almost scored, but 1:1 in the 70 minutes he was on and 2:1 down in the 24 minutes he was off so not bad from that point of view,
he could probably do with a rest but that won't happen untill Robben returns
and it will be interesting to see what happens then after Joe Coles recent performances.
He didn't get much service either, twice he had a chance to break but both
times the ball was played behind him, and when he did get the ball he didn't
seem to have any time or space to run into.
Last edited by tricky_colour; 13/04/2005 at 12:41 AM.
It does seem that as Cole has gone from strength to strength that Duff has gone off the boil somewhat I'm not sure the competition between the two is the reason but it may have somethin to do with it. He has played alot of games and does look like he wants a break. That schedule before the Israel game does'nt look too bad.
duff look shattered when he came off, Chelsea aren't playing again until the 20th, so he should get at least 5 days off to recover. He had to do a lot of covering between Robben getting injured and Cole making the step up.
He hasn't got much service in the last few games as when he gets the ball he just wastes it. I've never seen him play so bad as he has been recently. I remember he came on at half time against Newcastle full of confidence and everyone wanted to pass it to him.
BTW, we're not the only ones to notice this:
http://www.cfcnet.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6392
Last edited by eirebhoy; 13/04/2005 at 10:43 AM.
I was thinking of asking my boss for a rest, actually. You know, a few days off with full wages because I'm a bit tired...
Come on lads, his form may have dipped but it's strong enough to keep him in what is currently the best team in England and one of the best teams in Europe. Just a while ago we were raving about how good he was doing to keep his place in a highly competitive squad.
Duff is one of the best players we've ever produced and I'm a huge fan so I'm not taking a pop at him but if he's tired, surely he can consult one of the highly-paid doctors provided for him at Chelsea and see how he can train differently. Maybe an extra morning a week of weights? I know an extra morning of work is asking a bit...
Sorry about the last comment there but any talk of guys - who are making twice or thrice as much money in a week for playing a bit of ball than I do in a year of 40-50 hour weeks - getting tired always bugs me.
this guy on the chelsea board seemed to say it best:
"I think that Duff's been out of sorts for a while now. Whether that's as a result of being tired, or that maybe he's just concentrating more on his defensive duties, is hard to say. I believe that part of the "problem" is our own expectations. We "expect' Duff to be mercurial every time he plays, and every time he gets the ball. It's natural enough, but it may not be fair on him. A few games recently, I've been disappointed in him, only to revise my opinion when watching a replay - watching again, you can pick up many of the good things he does in a game, that tend to go a bit unnoticed, first time around.
Having said that, it's certainly true that he's not taking-on defenders as regularly as he was doing earlier. And, he has become prone to looking for the free-kick, when a bit more perseverance may have paid dividends. Maybe he's missing Robben? It's possible. He and Cole don't appear to swap sides as frequently as happens when Robben's playing. Duff seems to be staying fairly much on the left - probably to instructions. Maybe that's limiting Duffer to some degree?"
I agree with you to an extent in that I hate seeing players moaning about having to play 3 matches in 8 days or whatever. But what I mean by a rest is literally a rest without any training. If you ran as much as Duff did 6 days a week, travelling to the following places in 6 or 7 months you'd be wrecked:
Dublin
Birmingham
London
Dublin
Basel
Paris
Dublin
London
Middleboro
London
Paris (again)
Dublin
Manchester
London
West Midlands
London
Moscow
London
Newcastle
London
Dublin
London
Portugal
London
Portsmouth
Liverpool
London
Manchester
London
North England
London
Dublin
Liverpool
Newcastle
Barcelona
Liverpool
Norfolk
London
Tel Aviv
Dublin
Southampton
London
Munich
I mean, this is a person that said "mostly I just sleep" when asked what does he do in his spare time. Some people can hack running miles every day and travelling every week but I doubt Duffer is one of those. Jaysus, it took me about 5 days to get over the jet lag from Australia.
Ya everyone is noticing how tired he is! loked jaded last night, the least Kerr could have done back after Israel game was give him a break, Duff didn't want to play, McGeady should have played, but i suppose that a different storey
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