Amazing stuff.
Shane Duffy is just messing around now. Brighton and Hove Albion have enjoyed a solid Premier League campaign and, sitting in 13th position, they look fairly safe to survive for another season in the English top flight.
No matter what Brighton’s aims were at the start of the season, and no matter what their brilliant manager Chris Hughton says, that has to be considered as a successful campaign.
At the heart of The Seagulls’ rise has been a Derryman. A sturdy, towering figure born and bred in Galliagh in working class Derry city.
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 when he moved to Brighton in 2016.
He made an instant impact with the east Sussex club, playing a key role in their first promotion to the top tier of English football in 34 years.
Since their arrival, the calming, effective influence of players like Duffy have made them look at home there.
This season, in particular has seen Duffy come into his own. He’s started in all bar one of his club’s 34 Premier League to date, playing the full ninety minutes in all bar two of them.
He’s been there every step of the way, forming a strong alliance with Lewis Dunk in the centre of defence, with one of the Premier League’s meanest defensive duos managing shut outs in eight games in total.
SportsJOE journalist Pat McCarry wrote about Duffy’s outrageous defensive stats earlier on this season, with the 26-year-old making 11 clearances, three blocks of goal-bound efforts and winning his three aerial battles in one particular game against West Ham.
He’s kept that consistency going. He’s kept those standards up since.
Statistics from the ever reliable Whoscored.com showed that Duffy averages just under nine clearances in every game he plays. He makes 1.5 blocks and 1.5 interceptions in every outing too.
Best renowned for his ability to get his head to absolutely anything, it’s no surprise that Duffy’s headed clearances stats are impressive.
The stats, brought to light by football journalist Daniel Storey, were surprising in just how far ahead he is of any other player in the League.
The Republic of Ireland defender has made 76 more headed clearances than any other player this season.
215 headed clearances for Brighton's Shane Duffy this season. That's 76 more than any other player.
The gap between him and 2nd on the list is bigger than between 2nd and 45th.
— Daniel Storey (@danielstorey85) April 23, 2018
Shane Duffy will never shirk anything.
“Vital in the air,” said Jamie Carragher as he gushed about Duffy earlier this season.
“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,” he continued.
That’s high praise. That’s deserved praise.
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