“I said giant, I didn’t say sleeping giant, it’s just a giant,” barked the new Shelbourne manager Damien Duff at a reporter whilst being interviewed at the launch of the League of Ireland 2022 season back in February.
In October 2021, followers of Irish football were left shellshocked when Shels announced that Ian Morris would step down from his position at Tolka Park after the final game of the 2021 season. Morris led the Dublin-based club to two promotions from the First Division, walking away with his head held high and a 67 percent win record to his name.
Within a matter of days, former Chelsea, Newcastle United and Fulham winger Duff was appointed to the dugout as Morris’ successor, taking a giant leap of faith into his first senior management role.
The young coach got to work straight away, cutting the team’s post-season break short and bringing a plethora of fresh, young talents with him including Arsenal loanee Jordan McEneff and Wales Under-21s international Jordan Webb.
So far, Duff’s stint has been relatively awkward. The not-so-asleep giants have won just once under the new head coach in seven league matches, scoring merely four goals.
This article will be a tactical analysis of Shelbourne under the new man. It will be an analysis of the side’s tactics, focusing on some of the key tactical components Duff has been trying to integrate early on.
Formations and style of play
During his playing career, Duff was managed by some of the titans of the football world. The former winger had the pleasure of working with Roy Hodgson, Claudio Ranieri, Jose Mourinho and Giovanni Trapattoni throughout his illustrious playing days.
As little had been known about Duff’s coaching philosophy on the pitch, many were anxious to find out exactly how Shelbourne would play.
Since his arrival, Duff has been keen to implement a back three system. In every game so far, Shels have set up in a variation of a three at the back system. In his first few matches, the 43-year-old had opted to deploy a 3-4-2-1 but injuries and a slight need for more defensive security has seen the coach cede the structure into more of a 3-5-2/3-4-1-2.
Duff’s side have been playing quite a strange hybrid of football since his arrival in the dugout. Shelbourne tend to sit back in a 5-3-2 low block for large parts of games, particularly against better opposition, but there is also an emphasis on modern principles of play such as playing out from the back and employing a possession-based system in possession.
The main issue that Shelbourne is facing is quite simple. The team are not very good on the ball. Trying to play a sumptuous possession-oriented style is certainly admirable on Duff’s behalf. However, having a plan and actually executing it are two strikingly different things.
