Celtic fans appear to have written off the player and called for Neil Lennon to drop him from the starting XI immediately.
Opinions about you can change very quickly in football. One day you are hailed as world class, the next you are not good enough to make the bench. That appears to have been the case with Shane Duffy after moving to Celtic.
Being a lifelong fan of the club, he made his dream move to Celtic in the summer on a season-long loan from Brighton and Hove Albion. Clearly he wanted to be a part of 10IAR and reportedly picked the Hoops despite having other offers from the Premier League on the table. Safe to say, things have not gone as planned since then.
After storming through his first couple of games for the Hoops, scoring in both and adding an aerial threat to the side that was not present before, Duffy has hit a rough patch. It is safe to say that right now he is struggling. And many fans already seem to have written him off:
Would drop Duffy for the Aberdeen game , couldn't care less how much he is payed and how much of a fan he is , his performances have been shocking.
— efe ambrose ballon d'or (@PeezyBhoy) October 22, 2020
Shane Duffy is just Efe Ambrose with a wolf tones CD
— Matthew⛷ (@MatthewM767) October 22, 2020
Big Ajer putting in a shift tonight , Shane Duffy isn’t cutting it for me I’m afraid
— Lisa Sloan ⚽️ 🍀 🏴 (@ailidhsmum) October 22, 2020
Shane Duffy must be one of the worst defenders to play for Celtic in years. How did he cope in the Premier League?
— Sean (@Sean67_) October 22, 2020
Shane Duffy isn't a Premiership player, he's a Brighton player and knowhere near good enough to play for Celtic.
— Celtic (@YoutubeCelticFC) October 22, 2020
Just because he's a Celtic fan doesn't make him a good player.
I'd never seen him play before we signed him.
Why was there all the hysteria when we signed him?
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The biggest problem with Duffy is that he is not great with the ball at his feet. He is a no-nonsense old school defender. But in a team like Celtic, you keep the ball more often than not. And as a result, at times his weaknesses gets exposed. It just might be that he is not the right player for our style.
Of course, there is also the problem of not having a settled backline. Christopher Jullien, Hatem Abd Elhamed and Nir Bitton are all out at the moment, and as a result, the Hoops have never had a fixed back three since Duffy joined. Thus, he has not got the time on the pitch to gel with his defensive partners and build an understanding.
It is still to early to completely write him off completely though. We will get a better picture of things when this team has settled down a bit as the constant tweaks, some forced some not, have had an adverse effect on the performances of all the players.