Shane Duffy has been through the wringer since his season-long loan move from Brighton in the summer, with much of the criticism merited.
Those who have looked to be constructive about how poor he’s been deserve to be acknowledged and listened to. Duffy himself will tell you it’s not been a good start to his Parkhead career.
However, there’s been another element to the criticism that’s been a tad tasteless, over-the-top, and simply non-helpful. He has been verbally brutalised by some quarters for his performances since arriving in Scotland.
So much so that Neil Lennon himself has had to come out and slam the unhelpful comments he’s taken from some, such as Kris Commons (Daily Record). If it’s not from pundits, it’s from our rivals across the city who appear to have a pretty disturbing obsession with him. Yes, even some in our own support, including myself, have gone a bit over the top in criticism of him in the past too.
It all adds up to a hefty sum of stick he’s taken since arriving.
But when we dish out the digs it’s important to also know when to give him some praise. He deserves exactly that tonight for a powerful individual display against Wales in Ireland’s Nations League defeat.
Duffy was the captain once again tonight, and he really did lead as he left everything out on the pitch. Even for the goal, he seemed to be the only Ireland defender willing to throw himself at the ball as he got his head onto the initial cross before trying to fling himself across the goal to keep it out. The rest of his team-mates were static.
He was, without doubt, Ireland’s best performer this evening when next to nobody else wanted to show up.
Duffy puffed is chest out and performed tonight
WhoScored back that up too, giving Duffy an overall ranking tonight of 6.92/10. That’s the highest out of everyone who played for Stephen Kenny’s men tonight.
But it’s not just his overall score that impressed either, some of Duffy’s other stats showed some promise. WhoScored clocked him as having 67 touches with an 86% passing accuracy – the second highest in the team on both counts.
Defensively, meanwhile, he was an absolute standout. Four successful tackles, one interception, five clearances, and one blocked shot. He’s also been criticised in the past for his long balls, with many urging him to keep it more simple. However, six of his eight long-range passes tonight were accurate.
Even going forward, Duffy managed two efforts on goal as he tried to haul Ireland back into proceedings.
He’s getting a heck of a hard time at the moment, but as supporters we need to give him pats on the back when they are indeed due. Tonight he fully merits one, and hopefully he can take it into Wednesday night’s crucial crunch clash with Bulgaria at the Aviva Stadium.
After scoring in the return fixture back in September immediately after signing for Celtic, hopefully this one can spark a revival in his club form as we trickle into the Christmas period.
In other news, a senior Scottish journalist has revisited his horrific Celtic transfer prediction.
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