Ridiculous goings on.
Shane Duffy is taking the piss now. Tipped for Premier League success as a promising young defender at Everton, Duffy had to bide his time with the likes of Yeovil and Blackburn before finally getting back to the big time with Brighton.
Chris Hughton’s side are now up to 10th in the Premier League after beating West Ham 3-0 in London.
Brighton were good value for their away victory but they did require some defensive heroics from Duffy and his partner Lewis Dunk. In the centre of the B&H Albion defence, Duffy and Dunk were unbeatable.
Over the course of the game, the Ireland international made 11 clearances, three blocks of goal-bound efforts and he won three aerial battles.
Not bad for a lad that was an injury doubt for the game earlier in the week.
Add those impressive defensive numbers to what Duffy totted up already this season and it shows how much the Derry native is doing to help Brighton. He has a combined 95 clearances, interceptions and blocks.
That is second only to Burnley’s James Tarkowski and ahead of the likes of Ashley Williams, Michael Keane and Dunk, who is on 75. Of course, the likes of John Stones [Man City], Gary Cahill [Chelsea] and Phil Jones [Man United] do not have as many as their teams are often the ones in the ascendancy.
Duffy’s performance drew rave reviews from Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher and we can’t blame the man.
“Vital in the air,” Carragher began, that’s Duffy. He’s more of the commanding one in the air, a young player that came through at Everton.
“We don’t see enough of this in the Premier League now, we want a lot more from our centre-backs, that’s the way the game is going, but there’s nothing better for me in the role that I played to see defenders defend like this, and want to defend. Doing everything they can to stop that ball going into the back of the net.
“A lot of their success will be built on those two centre-backs. If they are going to stay in the league they need to keep them fit, and if they perform they are going to give Brighton a fighting chance.”
The former Liverpool defender was not the only person gushing about Duffy.
Think @Carra23 mrs will mind sharing the bed with @shaneduffy
— joeskedd (@joeskedd) October 20, 2017
https://twitter.com/crawfordjonny/status/921487730042986496
https://twitter.com/ArnoldEsque/status/921484662270242816
@shaneduffy has turned into an absolute beast of a centre half! Wins everything! Well in lad. Made up for ya 👏🏻👍🏻🔵
— Mark O'Malley (@MalleyNSNO) October 20, 2017
Shane Duffy is destined for the top saw it from the moment he made his debut at Bolton for #YTFC
— Matt Wood (@MattWood_97) October 20, 2017
Ahead of November’s World Cup playoffs, it is heartening to see how well Duffy is playing.
