I am a little concerned about Duff too, it might be nothing, but then
again you never know, he does tend to be the injury prone type.
However there has been nothing in the news about it so hopefully
wll will be well.
Though Finnan had a good game, rarely troubled, Robben seemed to just
to tackle himself when Finnan was marking him
Chelsea have really done well in managing Duff's tendency to have hamstring problems. He's played almost every game since September which would have been unthinkable at Blackburn.
The fact that he trained on Monday suggests it's a short-term problem. Chelsea's season is now pretty much over so a 5 week rest will hopefully serve Duff well.
For me Mourinho AND Kerr (China WTF??) should have been a bit more economic in his appearences lately knowing the run in for the title and the CL was due.
He done alot more work than he was given credit for after Robben went out injured i think... I mean Robben making the PFA team of the year was a joke and Joe Cole plays a couple of decent games and is hailed by the brittish media. Had Duffer been English like Lampard or Terry we'd know all about it.
There's a sense of satisfaction for me in Chelseas loss in that it highlighted duffers absense...... But on the night I was rooting for them because I wanted a fit and rested Duffer in the final
Its actually amazing the stats of Chelsea with and without Duff.
Only including Duff's time on the pitch, Chelsea have only lost 4 times. Those matches were:
Barca
City
Bolton
Villa
He played in the following defeats but they didn't lose with him on the pitch. I'll explain it better with a comment:
Bayern - Duff went off when Chelsea were winning. Goals scored with Duff on: 2-1 to chelsea.
Newcastle - Duff came on when Chelsea were 1-0 down. Goals scored with Duff on: 0-0.
Porto - Duff got taken off when Chelsea were winning. Goals scored with Duff on: 1-0 to Chelsea.
Besiktas - Duff came on at half time. Goals scored with Duff on: 0-0.
Arsenal - Duff went off when Chelsea were drawing. Goals scored with Duff on: 1-1.
Villa - Duff went off at 1-1.
When you consider that Duff has played 84 times for Chelsea that really is an amazing stat. Less than 5% of their matches are defeats with Duff in the team.
On 98 FM Sport this am it quoted Mourinho that his priority with Duff was to have him ready for next season and that the Faroes and Israel game were out.
Worried
When did he actually get the injury and is it definitely
a Hamstring.Jesus I hope this is only speculation re. what Mourinho has allegedlysaid.Duff is one player we just cant afford to lose and if its a Hamstring i would be extremely
worried at this stage.
Another interesting Duff stat: He's only scored 1 goal for Chelsea since December. Not been in form for a while now. I doubt he'd have made much difference last night.Originally Posted by eirebhoy
Off form or not he'd have been miles better than some of the dross Chelsea had out there. Anyway, tiredness was his main problem and he'd had a few matches out with injury before it, so that should have been that.
Its no coincidence that Joe Cole has gone from playing his best football of his career to being pretty anonymous in the 2 Liverpool matches when Duff was not there. Its also no coincidence that Chelsea got just 2 shots on target in the 180 minutes. Duff doesn't have to play well, everyone else gets more space with him in the team. Lampard would have got double the amount of shots on target alone if he wasn't been marked so tightly.
one thing that struck me over the two legs was the number of last ditch defending and tackles, Particularly from Troare and Carragher...
Duff would either have exploited them once they commited OR have won the set peice... Either way he would've made a world of difference.
And regardless of how his general play is the quality of Duff's crossing hasn't dropped. Whether Drogba would have exploited it is another story though. And Lampard's corners and wide frees were well short of Duff's standard.
I wouldn't be too critical of the drop in Duff's goal output as a big goal return isn't what ypou expect from him anyway.
I think Duff would definitely have made a difference.
Duff not in the Chelsea squad that play at home to Charlton today where they will recieve the Premiership on completion of the match. Anyone know for sure if this fella is gonna makre it June 4th? I sincerely hope so...
Duff injury
any news on seriousness of Duffs injury?
www.rte.ie/sport
The Chelsea winger hobbled off just after the hour with a twisted knee which now makes him doubtful for Wednesday, with Kerr confirming: "He is quite sore. It's early yet, but he has to be very doubtful at this stage."
That's all I've seen so far.
cant see duffer making it for wednesday. he looked like a cripple at the airport. Oh well, he was a passenger of late anyway in all fairness.
he looked like a cripple most of his 61' also
on current international form he is no loss
looks completely ****ed off and not enjoying his football
i think things at chelski are too much. the club is playing so many games and he has to be at such a high level for so long. Its hard being a winger and i think he is in a bit of a low ebb at the moment.
For goodness sake Duff , take your medals at the end of the season and get out of there before Mourinho strangles all the talent out of you. Used to be one of the most exciting players in european football and there was always a roar of anticipation in Japan everytime he picked up the ball- but now its all gone. Every time I see you play for Chelsea its trap ball , move forward 5 yards , stop , pass ball back ten yards - repeat for 90 minutes to ensure being picked for every game (Cole and Robben wont do it so they never get the full 90).
Get a video of yourself from two years ago , look at yourself now and be honest, which of the two do you want to be ?
i totally agree wallis... i said time and again the anglo saxon mentality is killing duffer at chelsea
It's true, its makes depressing viewing, Chelsea, by rounding the edges off Duff have seemed to have taken something away from his game, but on a positive? note he comes back to defend alot more & ironically recently he's made a couple of really important defensive tackles but its quite a poor trade off for what we used to have. Maybe it's just a phase but the fear that Duff instilled at the WC 2002 isn't there at the moment, I'd love to see it back again.
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