DAMIEN DUFF has said would be ‘mental’ and not ‘a pretty watch’ if he left his Shelbourne players to their own devices.
The Shels boss was asked to respond to Gary Neville’s claim that modern-day players are micromanaged to within an inch of their lives which he said was ‘becoming a disease in our game’.
The pundit made the comments – for which he has since apologised – after a scoreless Manchester derby.
Duff was involved in his own goalless derby on Friday night when his Shels side could not find the breakthrough against St Pat’s.
But the ex-Ireland star reckons Shels would not have had any of the success they have since he took over ahead of the 2022 season without an eye for detail.
Duff said: “I don’t know whether you’re trying to link it to our game on Friday night, maybe subconsciously you are, but our game I thought was a fascinating game.
“What other people say is irrelevant.
“AlI I know is managing and managing people’s positions on a pitch, having real structure, is something that we’re referencing with the guys to maybe take more responsibility and make their own decisions more.
“But if we didn’t do that for the last three years, myself, the staff, as in micromanage where to stand, where to run.
“We potentially wouldn’t have stayed up and got to the cup final in year one, we wouldn’t have got to Europe in year two, and we wouldn’t have won the league in year three.
“If I was just to let these guys ‘out yiz go, boys, and just play’, pfft, it wouldn’t be a pretty watch.
“Do I manage and micromanage where to be on a pitch? Absolutely, I think it’s modern-day football.
“I’m not a top manager so I’m not putting myself in this bracket but Liverpool are more than likely going to win the league – those players are told where to stand and where to run, believe you me.
“Pep Guardiola, six Premier Leagues, how did they do it? By being micromanaged. “If I just tell the lads ‘off you pop and do what you want’ it would be mental, mental.”
Shels have earned a reputation for being well-organised under Duff but he believes that is meant as an insult rather than compliment.
He said: “We’re the only side that gets criticised for being defensively solid. It’s a slant in this league. I just call it organised and working hard for your mate.
“Why would you look at us being defensively solid or structured in the first half? Because we couldn’t keep the ball. If you don’t keep the ball, you’re going to defend, it’s very simple.
““90 percent of our game plan leading up in the week was ball, ball, ball, patterns, what are you going to do with the ball?
“What are you going to fall back on if you don’t keep the ball? How we work and how we’re set up.
“Were we defensively solid? Yes. Was it pretty to watch from your point of view? Possibly not. From my point of view, beautiful, buying into what we’ve asked them to do and working hard for each other.
“It’s not always us micromanaging and talking tactics. At half-time it was ‘Lads, relax’. The apprehension in our play in the first half? That was gone in the second half.
“I’m not big into stats, but the stats totally backed it up. 65 percent possession, or 60-40 in the first half to them, it flipped to us in the second half.
“And I think the second half from a pure football point of view was a brilliant watch.
“Defensively solid? Yes, over the 100 minutes because the most dangerous team in the league at the minute you could say didn’t score, didn’t really have many chances, and then with the ball in the second half we were very, very, very, very good.”
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