Extremly unlikely, but let's assume you did make this invisible point.Originally Posted by fergalr
It is clearly evident that Rowan already had his fact spot on to support whatever he was on about. It is clearly an important detail in the context of any discussion of Duff re his future at Chelsea and the signing of a new winger. Any journalist worth their beer would put that fact in an article. Considering also that that contract detail is not common knowledge ie on the tip of peoples' memory and there was also misinformation about his contract details how in the name of sensible internet discussion do you find a justification for the absurd idea that he "should get his internet thingy together"
OK - You've worn me out and I'm sure we're boring the t|ts of everyone at this stage.
One closing comment: I didn't use these form of words in my original post. FYI - Sensible internet debate is facilitated by the judicious use of the Quote button.
Together with all our hearts.
Eidjur Goodjohnsen is about to leave Chelsea for Barca, so I guess that's a bit less competition for him.
not really, more like less competition for essien and makelele. until one of joe cole/shaun wright-phillips/robben gets injured or leaves it won't mean less competition for duffer. personally i'd prefer if he got into the team and kept his place on merit, but mourinho seems to prefer a settled, winning side.
Goodness, I wish he would leave so we can get that player who was a joy to watch back to himself.Remember him turning Denmark inside out just before WC 02.
That was only a friendly though. We've often seen him having great games in friendlies. Outside of the World Cup in 2002 there are not many instances of Duff really playing well in competitive games against quality opposition.
Thats a fair point Paulie but at club level he was a joy to watch playing for Blackburn.Remember that goal at Anfield where he played played a couple of one-two's before scoring.
The thing about Duff is that we all know what he's capable of so therefore that is what we always expect. Obviously he won't always be playing at his best but there have been too many competitive games where he has been nowhere near his best which is very frustrating to watch. He has the ability to be a top class player, he has the ability to go down as an Irish legend but in order to achieve these goals he has to start playing better in the big games on a consistent basis. There is no point in playing really well only now and then and for the rest of the time being mediocre. If that continually happens then surely we have to ask whether, on the rare occasion that he plays really well, is he playing above himself and are the average performances that we have gotten used to in the big Ireland games more his natural level?
I think you're being unfair on him Paulie. He was our best player in the Euro 2004 qualifiers. In the WC qualifiers he set up the only goal in Israel, he won a peno against Faroes, he set up the first and also won a peno against Cyprus, he set up the only goal in Switzerland. He set up 5 of our first 7 goals in the qualifiers and played well in quite a few. He was marked out of the game against France but his worst performance was away to the Faroes. While he was marked out of the game against France, it wasn't as if he was losing the ball. Mourinho has just changed his mindset so that he won't even try to take on 2 players now. In the Faroes he tried but kept losing out.
He needs to be beating players on a regular basis at his club to be sharp enough to be expected to do it for Ireland.
I think people are over-reacting to this apparent loss in form of Duff.
Firstly, Duff like any other winger relies on other players to get him on the ball. In the last campaign he played most of the games on the left wing where he had O'Shea and Kilbane on that side of the pitch and their passing ability is not good.
Secondly, he was invariably marked by 2 players.
While you can isolate incidents within particular games where he's had an impact there are still too many for me where he has not. It's not good enough for him just to be marked out of the game when playing the French and while he did set up the Morrison goal in Basle he had a poor enough game otherwise, as did the most of the team. Even if a couple of our big players are out we should still have enough about us to beat the weaker nations, especially at home. My point is that in order for us to be competitive and qualify for tournaments we need our best players to play well against the top teams. I would like to be able to heap praise on him but we all saw how he can really play in 2002 and as such he should be judged by those performances. That is what he is capable of and that is what he should be aspiring to. If those standards are never reached again I just don't think it reasonable that he be judged as one of the greats of Irish football, more as a player who showed us flashes of brilliance but also one who could and should have done so much more.
I don't think it is correct either that this be put down as nothing more than a dip in his form. This, with regard to Ireland, has been going on for 4 years, since the last World Cup. I don't mean to come across as being too harsh on him but he is regarded by Irish fans as a top player. If that is the case he should be assessed on that basis.
He needs to change his mindset back to attacking mode again. As I said, he didn't give away much possession against France, he just didn't try to do anything special. He has to get back to beating players again.
Agreed. It's not enough for him to be content with just not losing possession. In the big games especially, we need our special players to do special things.
Yes but there is no point in him beating players and the losing the ball when we have such a weak midfield. Much of Duff's playing involved him also protecting Harte/O'Shea.
For example, in the game in Paris Duff tracked back on numerous ocassions to help out a clearly flailing John O'Shea. That takes massive amounts of effort and work-rate.
There is no such thing as a miracle cure, a free lunch or a humble opinion.
This isn't all Maureenio's fault. Duff himself needs to take responsibility too. In this day and age, players do have genuine power over their managers and clubs - if he is unhappy, he can leave - contract or no contract. It's that simple really. Duff is going nowhere and that's because he is happy where he is.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed by that because there is no doubt his form has suffered (more down to lack of continuity in playing matches for Chelsea than on any tactics being imposed on him that curtail his style of play). But ultimately it is Duff's career and he is obviously very happy with everything as it currently stands
In my opinion the rumoured 18 million pound deal to keep Duff at chelsea is part of Chelseas ploy to keep a potentially leathal player on their books and not in the hands of the opposition i.e Liverpool, Arsenal, Man Utd,. With Chelsea as we saw with Essiens contrasting form for Ghana Duff with succumb to his managers wishes and be far more ineffective.. So how cynical is that?
Oh absolutely - just look at Shaun Wright Phillips ... its blatant what they're up to! But it is ultimately still a player's decision to join Chelsea or to renew their contract there. If Duff really made up his mind to leave he could be out of there within six months
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