Why Duff's been disappointing

[Northern Monkey]

Laurent Robert always used to cry about the same problem too, not seeing enough of the ball. Having right-footed centre midfielders means they carry the ball on their right side, and so are usually playing with their heads up to the right wing, back to the left wing.

 

That's why emre finds it easier to get duff more involved in the game, for a right footer to play it left you need more time, space on the ball.

 

Don't know why Martins doesn't play it to duff though. If i had to guess i'd say it's because whenever he gets the ball the karate kid theme tune blazes loudly in his mind ("you're the best, around!!) an he goes on a mad one

 

 

I think its crap to blame the right footed midfielders. Robert just used to like to moan.

 

Duff has been poor because he's played badly. Don't see how that can be anyone elses fault.

[greydos]

I'm not blaming right-footed midfielders! i'm just saying that as a matter of fact a right-footed player carries the ball on his right side, and thus naturally faces towards the right flank. If you count when parker spins on the ball to which side he plays it, mostly he ends up going towards the right. it's a fact, not an excuse. i'm not saying they don't or won't play it left, it's just that's a definite part of the problem.

 

Speed may well have played 90% of those games with Robert, but he was always next to a missing jenas or awol dyer, which meant he was under pressure and usually used to try and play us out of pressure, which means not involving robert in attacks until deeper up the opposition's end of the field. that's my 2cents worth anyway

[Guest Kenton Magpie]

Well done to Duffers I say, dare I say he is starting to silence his doubters!

 

Still alot of work to be done mind!

[Guest Knightrider]

Well done to Duffers I say, dare I say he is starting to silence his doubters!

 

Still alot of work to be done mind!

 

What, with one half decent performance? He'll silence doubters by getting to double figures, creating goals and playing well, on a consistent basis.

[Guest Kenton Magpie]

He has had a few steady games since his return, ok nothing special but give it time!

[Cajun]

I woud say it was easier for a right footer to pass it to his left tbh.

[Nobody]

He doesn't get the ball because we don't have a fully fit midfielder capable of spotting and playing quick balls on the break.

 

Get out of town!! It's 100% Duff's fault, man.

I'm not in town...

[tmonkey]

What exactly are people thinking Duff would do if he were to get the ball? Skin defenders, create chances, drive his way to goal? Thats the old Duff.

 

The most telling moment of Duff's game against AZ was for me when he unexpectedly picked the ball up in a right central position about 30 yards from goal, with nothing but space between him and the AZ keeper - the nearest AZ defenders were caught out of position having been sucked out to the right side of the pitch, and were desperately trying to come across the pitch to cover. The old Duff would have taken the ball with pace right up to the keeper before shooting with the outside of his boot, as soon as he got the ball hed have said "f*** this s***, im scoring" - it had "Goal" written all over it if it were the old Duff. The current Duff merely wondered towards the penalty area as though lost in the biscuit section of a supermarket and he didnt know what he wanted, hesitated whilst giving the defender the chance to get back into position, then slipped - the entire time looking like a fish out of water.

 

He looks finished as a "top" player. Feck knows whats wrong with him - pace, hunger/desire, confidence - hes lost something, and its very significant. Hes like a magician whos lost his magic and now does kids parties and cheap tricks. What were left with is a decent Premiership winger, someone who works hard, has solid technique (remnants of his old self) and if given enough games will provide a decent cross, or produce a decent dribble, or maybe even flashes of what he used to do on a consistent basis, but ultimately is s*** compared to what he used to be.

 

Were not going to cash in on him, so our only option is to hope he slowly gets some confidence and directness back into his play, and we start to see the old Duff coming back - unlikely as that is. Blaming teamates isnt the solution, its not helping him, but hes the biggest culprit in his own poor form.

[Gallowgate Toon]

i disagree, you cant be amazing one season and s**** the next, poor form and injuries have been the problem for duff this season. but its stupid to say we are never goin to get the old duff back because no one can predict that. the same has happened to henry this season hes had lots of injuries and has lost form that doesn't mean hes a bad player now, hes just having a bad season.

[Sparks]

As it has been pointed out, we have had this problem before with Robert, who generally recieved 95% of his passes from 2 players, Bernard and Speed. It does come from the problem of having two right footed players in the middle and a player in Parker who doesn't have the greatest eye for a pass, Dyer was also the same when he played there.

 

Players who lack vision shouldn't be playing in attacking central midfield positions.

[Guest Moe-Ali]

A proper left backk will help our attack jon.

this is because it will free the left winga to bomb the leftflank.

[tmonkey]

i disagree, you cant be amazing one season and s**** the next, poor form and injuries have been the problem for duff this season. but its stupid to say we are never goin to get the old duff back because no one can predict that. the same has happened to henry this season hes had lots of injuries and has lost form that doesn't mean hes a bad player now, hes just having a bad season.

 

Never said we arent ever going to see the old Duff again, personally always maintained its a possibility, albeit an unlikely one. The problem we have is that we have a younger, more dynamic left winger who needs the experience, needs to be playing regularly in his best position (eg SWP). Which is more likely - the development of Zog into a top quality Premiership winger, or Duff turning the clock back and finding his old form, that of a top quality Premiership winger, again?

 

Dont know whether you can be good one season and turn shiite the next, but regardless, thats not whats happened to Duff. He was as poor for Chelsea in at least his last full season there as he has been for us. He had Lampard picking him out every time he was in open space, he had a world class defence behind him and a quality fullback overlapping, both of what hes missing here and is supposedly behind his poor form for us, yet his form for Chelsea was no different to what it has been for us - shaping up to take the opposition on without doing so, running past players in the opposite direction to the goal, passing accurately but mostly to the fullback, etc etc.

 

If the old Duff were to be ignored, and he were judged on what he is now, I think its safe to say that hed be considered by most as a hard working Premiership left winger with some decent ball control and the ability to occassionally beat his man and put in a half decent cross. But it needs to be remembered that were paying this guy 70k per week (from reports) and turning down 7mill bids for him, and at the same time we go back to the question of Zog vs Duff, and on top of all this you have good backup for that position in the form of Milner, who in only a handful of Premiership games on the left, has produced as much as Duff, if not more. The only reason for not cashing in our chips and using that money to better other areas of the team is the hope that Duff finds his 17mill form again and we end up with a top class winger on our books. I just hope that that is what happens and Glenn has called it right, otherwise theres the danger of us ending up with nothing - a shiite, one season wonder youngster and an over the hill, cautious, unproductive winger sitting on large wages.

[Northern Monkey]

A proper left backk will help our attack jon.

this is because it will free the left winga to bomb the leftflank.

 

No good if it's Damien "Get Past No-one" Duff.

 

Having a shite left back behind him doesn't excuse Duff from not doing his job properly.

[Guest teepee]

A proper left backk will help our attack jon.

this is because it will free the left winga to bomb the leftflank.

 

No good if it's Damien "Get Past No-one" Duff.

 

Having a s**** left back behind him doesn't excuse Duff from not doing his job properly.

 

but having one certainly would ease his job considerably

[Northern Monkey]

No good if it's Damien "Get Past No-one" Duff.

 

A proper left backk will help our attack jon.

this is because it will free the left winga to bomb the leftflank.

 

Having a s**** left back behind him doesn't excuse Duff from not doing his job properly.

 

but having one certainly would ease his job considerably

 

Not really. If Duff is incapable of taking the ball past his opponent, how is someone good behind him goign to help?

 

I can see it would improve the service to him, but its not going to make him a good enough winger.

[mrmojorisin75]

No good if it's Damien "Get Past No-one" Duff.

 

A proper left backk will help our attack jon.

this is because it will free the left winga to bomb the leftflank.

 

Having a s**** left back behind him doesn't excuse Duff from not doing his job properly.

 

but having one certainly would ease his job considerably

 

Not really. If Duff is incapable of taking the ball past his opponent, how is someone good behind him goign to help?

 

I can see it would improve the service to him, but its not going to make him a good enough winger.

 

football 101 mate - a player facing both a right sided defender and right sided midfielder of the opposing team will find it more difficult to take on his opponent (same goes for the opposite flank of course) than when he opposes one player

 

a large responsibility of the modern full back is to make supportive runs overlapping the winger thus moving one of the opposing players that goes to track the run

then the winger with the ball either has the option to pass to the overlapping run if it's a good one or attempt to take on his opponent with more of an advantage

 

for a good example of this please refer to newcastle vs middlesbrough at SJP very recently and you'll see in great detail the problems this can cause - not to damien duff but to charles n'zogbia whilst on the other side james milner suffers few of the same problems in the same game as he was supported adequately by solano

 

duff might well be sh!te, i'm not convinced yet, but ignoring the lack of a decent supporting LB is ridiculous

[Guest Glenn]

Gejon and Northern Monkey, you obviously don't like Duff which is partly understandable given his unexpectedly poor form for us this season, but the lack of a proper LB is definitely a contributary factor. As mrmojorisin75 points out, having a good, natural LB does make a substantial difference.

 

Duff was better againt AZ, tho' still a long way short of his best. Carr did a decent job as a stand-in LB. He did at least get forward and even over-lapped Duff on a couple of occassions but spoiled it 'cos he hasn't got a left-foot.

 

Duff messed-up second half when he got free down the inside right channel as he hesitated then stumbled over the ball or his own feet! This was largely down to lack of confidence (and "rustiness"?). He will improve given time (and enough of the ball by his team-mates!).

 

Against the Smoggies, The Zog was also dissappointing. When he did get the ball he was confronted by at least 2 defenders. He had no support behind him and no-one even trying to over-lap him. A good, natural LB would have given him these options, creating space by pulling the covering defender away. Taylor did a solid job defensively but hardly got over the half-way line, which isn't his fault as he's not a LB.

 

If we're going to do well for the rest of the season, we do need Baba (for all of his faults) or the "old" Bernard back, which looks very unlikely. Then we may see the best of Duff and The Zog. As a stop-gap, Carr may be the best bet at LB, tho' Tayls is better defensively. Edgar looked promising in one game (tho' the goal was a bit flukey) but he's a CB by trade. 

[Guest Knightrider]

What exactly are people thinking Duff would do if he were to get the ball? Skin defenders, create chances, drive his way to goal? Thats the old Duff.

 

The most telling moment of Duff's game against AZ was for me when he unexpectedly picked the ball up in a right central position about 30 yards from goal, with nothing but space between him and the AZ keeper - the nearest AZ defenders were caught out of position having been sucked out to the right side of the pitch, and were desperately trying to come across the pitch to cover. The old Duff would have taken the ball with pace right up to the keeper before shooting with the outside of his boot, as soon as he got the ball hed have said "f*** this s***, im scoring" - it had "Goal" written all over it if it were the old Duff. The current Duff merely wondered towards the penalty area as though lost in the biscuit section of a supermarket and he didnt know what he wanted, hesitated whilst giving the defender the chance to get back into position, then slipped - the entire time looking like a fish out of water.

 

He looks finished as a "top" player. Feck knows whats wrong with him - pace, hunger/desire, confidence - hes lost something, and its very significant. Hes like a magician whos lost his magic and now does kids parties and cheap tricks. What were left with is a decent Premiership winger, someone who works hard, has solid technique (remnants of his old self) and if given enough games will provide a decent cross, or produce a decent dribble, or maybe even flashes of what he used to do on a consistent basis, but ultimately is s*** compared to what he used to be.

 

Were not going to cash in on him, so our only option is to hope he slowly gets some confidence and directness back into his play, and we start to see the old Duff coming back - unlikely as that is. Blaming teamates isnt the solution, its not helping him, but hes the biggest culprit in his own poor form.

 

i disagree, you cant be amazing one season and s**** the next, poor form and injuries have been the problem for duff this season. but its stupid to say we are never goin to get the old duff back because no one can predict that. the same has happened to henry this season hes had lots of injuries and has lost form that doesn't mean hes a bad player now, hes just having a bad season.

 

Never said we arent ever going to see the old Duff again, personally always maintained its a possibility, albeit an unlikely one. The problem we have is that we have a younger, more dynamic left winger who needs the experience, needs to be playing regularly in his best position (eg SWP). Which is more likely - the development of Zog into a top quality Premiership winger, or Duff turning the clock back and finding his old form, that of a top quality Premiership winger, again?

 

Dont know whether you can be good one season and turn shiite the next, but regardless, thats not whats happened to Duff. He was as poor for Chelsea in at least his last full season there as he has been for us. He had Lampard picking him out every time he was in open space, he had a world class defence behind him and a quality fullback overlapping, both of what hes missing here and is supposedly behind his poor form for us, yet his form for Chelsea was no different to what it has been for us - shaping up to take the opposition on without doing so, running past players in the opposite direction to the goal, passing accurately but mostly to the fullback, etc etc.

 

If the old Duff were to be ignored, and he were judged on what he is now, I think its safe to say that hed be considered by most as a hard working Premiership left winger with some decent ball control and the ability to occassionally beat his man and put in a half decent cross. But it needs to be remembered that were paying this guy 70k per week (from reports) and turning down 7mill bids for him, and at the same time we go back to the question of Zog vs Duff, and on top of all this you have good backup for that position in the form of Milner, who in only a handful of Premiership games on the left, has produced as much as Duff, if not more. The only reason for not cashing in our chips and using that money to better other areas of the team is the hope that Duff finds his 17mill form again and we end up with a top class winger on our books. I just hope that that is what happens and Glenn has called it right, otherwise theres the danger of us ending up with nothing - a shiite, one season wonder youngster and an over the hill, cautious, unproductive winger sitting on large wages.

 

Couldn't agree more, top posting.

[Guest Immsy7]

I don't think Duff has been as bad as many people are saying. He is not the player that Chelsea bought, but if he was would they have sold him for £5M? I really doubt it. Duff has not been great this season, but i agree with it having something to do with the lack of talent at left back, Milner is having a great season and i feel this has a lot to do with Solano being behind him. Solano's vision has helped find Milner in space whereas Duff is left wanting with yards of space around him due to the likes of Huntington not having the same creativity/vision as Solano.

[Guest Knightrider]

One thing that always worries me about signing a top-class player in his prime from a top club is that they must have something seriously effecting their ability to a good job for their manager, or have an attitude problem. Duff's attitude by all accounts is spot on, but his form and ability just hasn't been there for us, and Mourinho being as astute as he is, has seen something in Duff, without a doubt. I personally think he's lost his sharpness and the stamina has went, things he will never regain, not fully anyway. He was never an athlete to start with so relied on his sharpness and energy to make things happen for himself and his team. Look at him today though, he's slow to react, he looks jaded and fades badly. Sharpness gives you an edge, allows you to be ultra competitive which raises confidence levels, something a player like Duff needs to play to his full potential.

 

We'll see the old Duff now and again, dictated by opposition more than anything, but he'll never return to the top of his ability in my opinion and we'll never see the best of him as a result.

 

Always be wary of signing players out of form for any long period, players who've experienced great heights but are no longer wanted by their clubs. Kluivert, Duff, even Butt, all former great players who at Newcastle for one reason or another, looked a pale shadow of their former selves. These players become available for a reason at their so-called peak age.