There’s nothing new in the statement that Shane Duffy is struggling at Celtic, but we’ve probably passed the point where there’s time for him to bounce back and make a success of his loan spell.
Stephen Welsh did well when he took his place against Motherwell and it’s probably in Celtic’s best interests to give him a solid run of games so they can see what they have in the youngster.
The problem for Duffy is his confidence has just completely vanished and you can see that other teams are targeting him in the knowledge that they will get success.
Duffy also suffers from Celtic not being as dominant as they expect to be, so his mistakes are magnified.
If he makes an error for a goal in a 4-1 win then nobody will really take notice, but when they happen in games that end as draws or defeats then it’s always going to cause a problem.
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A report from The Times has also indicated that Ireland manager Stephen Kenny is also starting to worry about his form, so there’s a chance that he could lose his place in the Ireland side too.
Again that could come down to confidence and perhaps playing for his country could liberate him, but Ireland’s style does not suit a player like him just now.
They tend to sit in deep and soak of the pressure, so if he’s not winning his headers and defending well then the game could be lost before they get a chance to settle in, so it has to be a major worry.
What Duffy needs is time to play his way back into form and to help him build his confidence again, but it’s not clear if Celtic or Ireland are in a position to roll with his errors to give him that just now.