[Albion] Why has Shane Duffy's return gone so well?

[Swansman]

Duffy hasn't changed one little bit, it's Potterball that's changed. Dunk'n'Duffy is exactly as effective as it ever was. And now with added Webster! And Sanchez behind them! It's an enviable combination that Potter's lucked into, and one that he casually tosses aside at his peril before seeing how far it can take us

Shane Duffy last week: "I've changed a few things in my life the last few months."

A wild guess is that Shane Duffy knows more on this topic than THPP.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Well, every defender will to a degree. Webby, who was magnificent on Saturday, gave a good few balls away the weekend before. Sanchez, put one or two in the stands at the weekend.

Even top quality players will get caught out by an aggressive press and give the ball away sometimes. It's an inherent risk of the strategy.

I think Shane is in good enough headspace that he won't try and pretend he's Ben White. If he has to hack it out for a throw he will. He won't let us down.

He also wasn't averse to giving Sanchez a bit of a deserved bollocking occasionally to think a bit more about what he was doing. But in the main it was band-of-brothers stuff, mutual encouragement, back-slapping etc. Was grand to see. Looked like a fully cohesive unit. Tho always easy to aftertime on these things after a fairly comfortable win. Fully predicting equally good things v Everton tho

 

[Guinness Boy]

There have clearly been some changes in lifestyle, with Duffy himself saying that he has moved away from his negative influences. This will undoubtedly have helped him, especially since it appears one of his best mates is now Adam Lallana, a pro who has done it all and seems incredibly motivated. I also have no doubt he has worked on his fitness and ball playing over the summer, looking fitter and more assured than ever before.

However, the most interesting thing to me is his tactical integration. Almost everyone wrote Duffy off, claiming he is not a 'Potter centreback', and for the most part I'd have agreed. In a back four I could see this being true, with Poyyer requiring both centrebacks to be progressive. Most assumed the same applied in a 3, as we'd only ever seen white partner dunk and Webster. Yet thinking about it, why would we need 3 incredible ball players? Duffy suits this new system so we'll as he can win every 50/50, every header and every physical battle, but then when he gets the ball he can play it either side of him to 2 incredible ball players. I actually believe this 3 of Duffy, Webster and dunk is better than the one containing white, as white could easily be targeted as a 'weaker centreback'. However, with Duffy you get the assurance of winning every header, and whilst his distribution isn't world class, it doesn't have to be as he can let the other two do the playing. Oh, and he also provides immense aerial threat from corners!

Possibly playing in the centre of the three helps him out as he isn't expected to play out so much from there and is looking to make short passes to others better suited to it.

I think I saw a post saying that Lallana is also helping to direct Duffy where to play the ball.
This may be true, but I didn't notice it myself.
It probably goes along with his statement that he is listening more now than he was willing to previously.

The other and most important factor, is that he is a class act.

Point of order. We were mostly defending in a traditional 4 on Saturday. Webster was playing right back and March left back. Though it was a bit more fluid in attacking, that was our defensive shape with either Lallana or Bissouma coming deep to protect Dunk n Duffy.

Just as DFP had a good view from the North of Lallana's instruction, so it was obvious from my seat in WSU that our shape was predominantly 4-4-1-1 or 4-1-4-1 though with Potter it's always a bit more fluid.

 

[Tarpon]

Shane Duffy last week: "I've changed a few things in my life the last few months."

A wild guess is that Shane Duffy knows more on this topic than THPP.

Knowledge will NEVER be a pre-requisite for anyone posting on here. You should know that.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Shane Duffy last week: "I've changed a few things in my life the last few months."

A wild guess is that Shane Duffy knows more on this topic than THPP.

Shane was always fully functional on the pitch in the Dunk-Duffy combo, even while he was a complete social media car-crash off the pitch. Shane Duffy is who he his, manager has to er, MANAGE that. His partnership with Lewis Dunk was just casually tossed aside like it didn't matter, by a rookie manager completely out of his depth. Arguably cost the club a few league places = a couple of million quid last season.

Same with Andone. If Potter wasn't so super-keen to get rid of the player, he'd have an oven-ready replacement for an injured Maupay. Probably a better option also. Then we'd have an equally gormless 'Why has Florin Andone's return gone so well?' thread. Potter doesn't seem to relish having players with strong personalites around the club. Or maybe that's one for next term of his EPL Management For Dummies course

 

[Swansman]

Shane was always fully functional on the pitch in the Dunk-Duffy combo, even while he was a complete social media car-crash off the pitch. Shane Duffy is who he his, manager has to er, MANAGE that. His partnership with Lewis Dunk was just casually tossed aside like it didn't matter, by a rookie manager completely out of his depth. Arguably cost the club a few league places = a couple of million quid last season.

Same with Andone. If Potter wasn't so super-keen to get rid of the player, he'd have an oven-ready replacement for an injured Maupay. Probably a better option also. Then we'd have an equally gormless 'Why has Florin Andone's return gone so well?' thread. Potter doesn't seem to relish having players with strong personalites around the club. Or maybe that's one for next term of his EPL Management For Dummies course

Hmm...

I feel we just get to see the full potential of early era Potterball in fits and starts. Was delighted when Locadia and Andone were shipped out earlydoors.

Is there anything more gormless than changing opinions based on whatever will give you the most attention..?

 

[brianwade]

Blame Katie Price

Actually think the question is more "why did Duffy's loan to Celtic NOT go so well?" His dad had died suddenly and he was in a new city during lockdown(s). Scottish lockdown restrictions were stricter then English ones too I believe.

Also he had some sort of relationship with Katie Price when it was all going " pear " . Have you soon her cooking on Celebrity Masterchef ? Dreadful . The poor bloke must have been starving . Plus he 'd have to deal with the constant flow of plastic surgeons calling up and asking for their invoices to be sorted . That's why he scarpered to Scotland obviously . Now she's safety ensconsed with her latest victim it was safe for him to come back .

Hope we keep the praise up when it doesnt go quite so well for him ...

 

[Springal]

Shane was always fully functional on the pitch in the Dunk-Duffy combo, even while he was a complete social media car-crash off the pitch. Shane Duffy is who he his, manager has to er, MANAGE that. His partnership with Lewis Dunk was just casually tossed aside like it didn't matter, by a rookie manager completely out of his depth. Arguably cost the club a few league places = a couple of million quid last season.

Same with Andone. If Potter wasn't so super-keen to get rid of the player, he'd have an oven-ready replacement for an injured Maupay. Probably a better option also. Then we'd have an equally gormless 'Why has Florin Andone's return gone so well?' thread. Potter doesn't seem to relish having players with strong personalites around the club. Or maybe that's one for next term of his EPL Management For Dummies course

Dunk & Webster as a partnership shits all over Dunk & Duffy. And last season we had the Ben White dilemma - use him or lose him, so made sense to ship out Duffy.

What we now have is Dunk and Duffy back again, with Webster almost in the Ben White role. So all makes sense

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Hmm...



Is there anything more gormless than changing opinions based on whatever will give you the most attention..?

Yup, the most gormless thing ever is assuming someone writes something to gain attention. I mean WTF? Why would you even bother?

FWIW if Potter somehow lucked into the Withdean job in a parallel universe, reckon the first thing he'd do is ship out Danny Cullip and Charlie Oatway

 

[Stat Brother]

Dunk & Webster as a partnership shits all over Dunk & Duffy. And last season we had the Ben White dilemma - use him or lose him, so made sense to ship out Duffy.

What we now have is Dunk and Duffy back again, with Webster almost in the Ben White role. So all makes sense

But pretty sure that's not by design.

Which in turn, I guess, speaks very well of all the characters involved.

 

[WATFORD zero]

I think his return has gone so well because he is in a good place mentally and we have played to his strengths and set up to cover his weaknesses. In addition, neither Burnley or Watford put pressure on Shane when he had the ball at his feet. I'm sure Everton will have watched our two matches and I believe they will come at pace at Duffy every time he has the ball at his feet as part of a high press.

Which is also why I wouldn't be surprised to see a Wesbter, Dunk, Veltman back 3 on Saturday

 

[Springal]

But pretty sure that's not by design.

Which in turn, I guess, speaks very well of all the characters involved.

No probably not. But Dunk, Webster, White worked very well - we no longer have White so a slight reshuffling of the deck and an opportunity to Shane to prove he can play in the system which so far he has taken that chance well. But to suggest Duffy shouldn't have been shipped out is a bit silly

 

[WATFORD zero]

Possibly playing in the centre of the three helps him out as he isn't expected to play out so much from there and is looking to make short passes to others better suited to it.

I think I saw a post saying that Lallana is also helping to direct Duffy where to play the ball.
This may be true, but I didn't notice it myself.
It probably goes along with his statement that he is listening more now than he was willing to previously.

The other and most important factor, is that he is a class act.

Somebody I know who was at the Getafe game said that with the small crowd, it was very noticeable how they could hear Lallana telling EVERBODY where to play the ball constantly. I did notice on Saturday that while we were preparing to take a corner, Lallana was on the edge of their box shouting at Sanchez telling him what he wanted him to do

 

[CheeseRolls]

Shane was always fully functional on the pitch in the Dunk-Duffy combo, even while he was a complete social media car-crash off the pitch. Shane Duffy is who he his, manager has to er, MANAGE that. His partnership with Lewis Dunk was just casually tossed aside like it didn't matter, by a rookie manager completely out of his depth. Arguably cost the club a few league places = a couple of million quid last season.

Same with Andone. If Potter wasn't so super-keen to get rid of the player, he'd have an oven-ready replacement for an injured Maupay. Probably a better option also. Then we'd have an equally gormless 'Why has Florin Andone's return gone so well?' thread. Potter doesn't seem to relish having players with strong personalites around the club. Or maybe that's one for next term of his EPL Management For Dummies course

Not sure I see it like that. Houghton had to go at the end of the day, because the team he had built had gone stale and he didn't inspire confidence that he had what it takes to rebuild it. Potter's biggest challenge from day one was winning over the dressing room. Rather than being out of his depth, he was single mindedly ruthless. Potter did not want anyone who didn't want to play for him and Duffy was both out of form (playing himself out of the team) and had his eye on a move to Celtic. This wasn't just Potter's doing though. How else can you explain the signing of Matthew Clarke, who clearly wasn't what Potter was looking for?

Right now it is easy to point to recent results and use that to pull your arguments apart. The manager has transformed the first team, taken some risks and made some brave decisions. We can have this argument another time, when results aren't going so well and I reckon I will still be happy to defend Potter, particularly for what he has done thus far.

 

[Doc Lynam]

completely agree. I notice a few people have (rightly) mentioned that teams will press in order to expose Duffy and exploit his 'deficiency' with the passing game.

My view is that the players around whoever is on the ball at the back, be it Duffy, Webster, Dunk or Sanchez will be working hard to ensure there are always options. This is where Lallana and Bissouma will help massively, dropping into space to create the passing triangles out from the back. Any player will struggle without this support, so I expect Duffy to be fine, as long as the team do their job.

There's no will about it teams have already first time around. Really like the guy and he's fabulous at what he does but, teams have and will target his passing under pressure. Saying that he looked tidy on Sat.

 

[Deportivo Seagull]

Playing in the middle of three centre halves. Protects him but also allows him to play to his strengths.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Bry Nylon]

Really like the guy and he's fabulous at what he does but, teams have and will target his passing under pressure. Saying that he looked tidy on Sat.

Agree with that but if you want a defender who can 'do the lot' then that will cost £70-80m+

Every team will look to exploit opponent's known weaknesses. Arsenal just paid £50m for a defender who is great at playing out, but he's going to have to spend the next 36 games dealing with non-stop high balls.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

I think his return has gone so well because he is in a good place mentally and we have played to his strengths and set up to cover his weaknesses. In addition, neither Burnley or Watford put pressure on Shane when he had the ball at his feet. I'm sure Everton will have watched our two matches and I believe they will come at pace at Duffy every time he has the ball at his feet as part of a high press.

Which is also why I wouldn't be surprised to see a Wesbter, Dunk, Veltman back 3 on Saturday

Perhaps, but people were saying similar pre Watford about their pacy counter attacking style.

 

[WATFORD zero]

Perhaps, but people were saying similar pre Watford about their pacy counter attacking style.

I was surprised how little Watford showed but, as you say, we were all expecting a pacy counter attack. I suspect that Everton will be more likely to press high which 'could' highlight Shane's weaknesses.

Although, if I remember the corresponding game at the Amex last season and I'm not thinking of the season before, they point blank refused to press, also hoping to hit us on the counter and we couldn't break them down.

We'll find out at 3 on Saturday

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Seriously weird IMHO that few on this thread appear to deem it worthy to comment on big Shane's GOALS. Remember those? Put us on the front foot earlydoors on Saturday and has hauled our balls out of the coals on many another day. If memory serves, he actually ended up our top scorer one particularly wretched EPL season with 5 goals or something. MASSIVE asset to the club and not IMHO one to be casually tossed aside by a rookie banager who has little or no idea of what constitutes the backbone of a lower level EPL starting eleven