Former striker Kevin Kyle has slammed on-loan Celtic defender Shane Duffy for an incident during the Scottish Cup final.
On Sunday, the Hoops defeated Heart of Midlothian on penalties in the final of the 2019/20 Scottish Cup to seal a quadruple treble (per Celtic).
During the match at Hampden Park, the Irish centre-back stayed on the field for the whole of normal time but was substituted for Mikey Johnston before extra-time (per Transfermarkt).
For his role in the cup victory, the Brighton & Hove Albion loanee was awarded a dire 3/10 performance rating by the Daily Record.
In the latest episode of the Open Goal podcast, the pundits analysed the Scottish Cup final and Kyle slated Duffy for one incident in particular.
He said: “[When Duffy and Christopher Jullien ran into each other] was really bad, but what I think’s even worse is there was a point in the second half when Duffy tried to play offside.
“That was [with] five minutes to go, he doesn’t know what’s behind him to be trying to play offside, to be stepping up.
“That’s a get-out, for me, because he didn’t have the pace to get in to cover the boy – so he’s trying to put his hand up to and look to [call him offside].
“For me, that’s a get-out and that’s worrying.”
TIF Thoughts on what Kevin Kyle said about Shane Duffy…
As can be seen in what the podcast pundit had to say, he believes that the Irish defender was trying to play people offside during the final because he did not have the pace to keep up with them.
Have you been impressed with Shane Duffy during his loan so far this season?
No, he's not good enough
Yes, he's a solid player
In the Daily Record’s assessment of his performance, they stated that he was ‘never far from a calamity’ and he showed ‘shambolic indecision’.
However, perhaps it was just a bad day at the office for the loanee as he has been one of Celtic’s best players in the Premiership so far this season.
Having picked up a 7.35/10 average rating over 10 appearances in the league this term, he has been the Hoops’ third-best performer (per WhoScored).
So, going forward, hopefully, Duffy can deliver more performances like he has been doing in the league rather than what he did in the cup final.