SHANE DUFFY has been on the end of some criticism in recent games after some shaky performances at the back for Celtic. The Irish defender joined on a loan deal from Brighton but made a couple of errors in the losses to Rangers and AC Milan as well as the draw at Pittodrie but the manager of the 9IAR Champions wasn’t ready to throw his man under the bus like some, instead sticking by his man.
As reported by the Independent, the Irishman backed his compatriot to become a key figure in the side that helps Celtic win an unprecedented 10-in-a-row.
“As the season unfurls and goes along, he’ll play a huge part for us. Shane’s a good type and he will revel in it eventually. But he’s only just in the door. He’s been thrown in without any real pre-season. He’ll get better and better — and he’ll be a stalwart for the team.
“Shane didn’t play any football for nine months. All of a sudden, he’s played 14 games in about five weeks. He played three games for Ireland then had an abscess in his mouth that was giving him a lot of pain. He flew back into Glasgow and had some emergency dental work. Then we had to roll him out against Rangers.”
Duffy made a good start to life with Celtic, scoring in his first two games but has since looked a bit shaky having a lot of the ball. At Brighton, Duffy was used to having less of the ball and when he did, putting it long for the strikers to chase. He has the calibre to come good and provide the steel that Celtic needed in defence. Christopher Jullien, Nir Bitton and Hatem Abd Elhamed are still unavailable meaning Duffy has had to play through the pain of a tooth injury.
The second Aberdeen goal looked like Duffy was trying to overplay when he should have just used his natural instinct and just put the ball out for a throw in.
