Pundit Tam McManus has recently criticised Shane Duffy for his recent performances for Celtic.
McManus was a guest on the latest episode of PLZ Soccer’s The Football Show and the panel discussed multiple issues involving the Bhoys. One topic of discussion was the Old Firm derby, which ended 2-0 in the Gers’ favour recently. McManus talked about Duffy and he had criticism for the Irish central defender. McManus believes that Duffy hasn’t been as good as he thought the defender can be.
Duffy arrived at Celtic on loan from Brighton and Hove Albion in the summer transfer window. He happens to be a boyhood Hoops fan and he did feature for the Bhoys in the recent Old Firm derby.
Has Shane Duffy been disappointing since his arrival?
Yes
No
McManus believes that Duffy hasn’t exactly met his expectations at Parkhead and he hasn’t got aggressiveness about himself.
He said: “I think you look at Shane Duffy – again I said it on this show that if Celtic signed Shane Duffy, they’d win the league. I don’t think that’s the case now. I don’t think he’s anywhere near as good as I thought he was going to be.
“Because he’s come up and I thought he’d be a big, aggressive centre-half – going in and winning headers, going in and clattering into people. I’ve not seen it yet. I’ve not seen that aggressiveness. I thought he was soft at the goals [against Rangers].”
TIF Thoughts…
Since joining Celtic, Duffy has now made eight appearances in all competitions for the Bhoys. In the Premiership, he has now played six games and he played two games in the club’s Europa League qualifying games too (as per Transfermarkt).
For his performances in the league, the Irishman has picked up a rating of 7.67 for Celtic. As a result, he has been the club’s second-best performer so far. Even against Rangers, he was Celtic’s seventh-best performing player on the pitch. So McManus’ criticism for Duffy is a bit unjustified and the defender deserves a bit more credit for his performances for Celtic so far.