Damien Duff, is this why he is so effective in our set up?

[AlFayedsChequebook]

http://www.runofplay.com/2011/03/07/the-sinister-ones/
From the ever excellent 'The Run of Play':


Being left-handed helps athletes in one of two ways. If you are a left-handed batter in baseball, most of the pitches you see, because most pitchers are righties, start away from your body and come towards you. The angle works in your favor: you don't have to turn your head as far, you get a better and longer look at the ball. That's the less common kind of advantage, and perhaps confined to baseball and (maybe?) cricket: the more common one is simple unfamiliarity. Left-handed pitchers with mediocre stuff can make a living in the majors for a very long time because there aren't that many of them: right-handed batters may get the angle-advantage but they don't see a lot of lefties and so are less comfortable batting against them. Similarly, when Manu Ginobili has the ball for the San Antonio Spurs, the other team's coaches immediately start shouting, Don't let him go to his left! Not that defenders don't know this already; but they play most of the time against righties, and muscle memory seems to work against their conscious intentions. Again and again Ginobili manages to get past them while driving to his strong hand. Coaches throw up their hands and curse. Doesn't he know the guy's gonna go left??

How much of an advantage is it to be a left-footed soccer player? A pretty big one. The soccer equivalent of Ginobili is Arjen Robben, one of those inside-out wingers Jonathan Wilson has called our attention to. He makes the same move several times in every match, dribbling towards the goal from the right wing, then planting his right foot hard in the turf and cutting in, preparing to launch a rocket with his strong left foot—and again and again defenders get caught leaning the wrong way. Coaches throw up their hands and curse. Doesn't he know the guy's gonna go left??

In these situations Robben is dribbling left-footed to start with, and pressing generally leftwards, all of which tends to make defenders, defenders who spend the great majority of their time dealing with right-footed players, wary of a sudden dart to the right—so when he just goes harder to the left they can quickly fall a step behind. Likewise, many of Messi's most dangerous and disruptive attacks start from the right: he dribbles left, slows just a bit, then punches the ball again to the left as he accelerates—and sometimes he does this three or four times in a single sequence of dribbling, stuttering his way horizontally across the pitch, with the result that when he finally does fire off a shot he's made his way to the opposite side of the goal. (The first highlight here is a pretty good example, though we might need Richard or Brian to come up with a different soundtrack for it. Also, in the legendary Maradona-Messi Matching Marches of Mayhem, both of them zag their way consistently leftwards: Maradona does zig once near the end, though, famously, the ball never touches his right foot the whole run. Messi, cutely, plays against type by finishing a la derecha.)

Because habit and muscle memory work so consistently against defenders of left-footed players, I wonder if it's not even better to be a strongly left-footed player than to be ambidextrous. The most ambidextrous players I can think of are Cristiano Ronaldo—surely the most powerful off-leg in the world—and David Villa, and while both of them are aided tremendously in attack by their range of options and unpredictability, there's something about the left-left-left moves of Messi, Robben, Maradona and their like that seems uniquely effective. It's sort of like playing rock-paper-scissors against someone who always throws rock: you keep thinking, Okay, this time he's got to throw paper—but he never does. You're going to have to adjust, because he's not about to. Why should he? He's beating you every time.

[RidgeRider]

I think this is basically true. It is hard to stop anyone going to their strong side but when their strong side is the opposite of most everyone you play against it HAS to cause problems for defenders.

The big question I have in Duff's case is why has he suddenly got the quick move to the left back when it left him for better part of 9 months? I still think he was carrying a niggle that never really healed up.

[AlFayedsChequebook]

I think this is basically true. It is hard to stop anyone going to their strong side but when their strong side is the opposite of most everyone you play against it HAS to cause problems for defenders.

The big question I have in Duff's case is why has he suddenly got the quick move to the left back when it left him for better part of 9 months? I still think he was carrying a niggle that never really healed up.

I sit there every game and say 'he is going to cut inside' every time he gets the ball on the right. 9 times out of 10 he does yet always makes space for himself, as witnessed at the weekend. In footballing terms, premier league players are not stupid so you would think they could figure him out easily yet he continues to be successful so there must be more to it than that.

As for his poor form earlier in the season, I think his injury was worse than we had originally thought.

[HatterDon]

What you'll also notice about Duff this season is that when a defender closes off the middle, he's quite capable of haring towards the goal line and whipping in a decent cross with his RIGHT foot. This makes it even more difficult on the poor old left back.

During the 45 seconds or so I played left wing, I think it would have been great to play against LBs instead of RBs. In my day they never switched wings -- even for 15 minutes.

[NogoodBoyo]

I beleive the theory is mostly correct.  However, as HD points out, Duff has taken it to the by-line more often this year and whipped in killer crosses.  Coaches and defenders have to be aware of this risk sewing the semen of doubt in the defender's mind.  Thus he has developed more options to find the space to both cross and score (at different times of course).
I believe it's a matter of confidence and motivation.  His game improved enormously after the December window whne he awa the quality of player brought in allied to the fact that Hughes still started him.  Masterful management by the big daff wearer.
Nogood "naughts and crosses today, isit" Boyo

[HatterDon]

I beleive the theory is mostly correct.  However, as HD points out, Duff has taken it to the by-line more often this year and whipped in killer crosses.  Coaches and defenders have to be aware of this risk sewing the semen of doubt in the defender's mind.  Thus he has developed more options to find the space to both cross and score (at different times of course).
I believe it's a matter of confidence and motivation.  His game improved enormously after the December window whne he awa the quality of player brought in allied to the fact that Hughes still started him.  Masterful management by the big daff wearer.
Nogood "naughts and crosses today, isit" Boyo

"sewing the semen of doubt" -- a classic up there with "drooling the drool of regret into the pillow of remorse."

Hatter "an easy slut for a good one-liner" Don

[Me-ate-Live, innit??]

The advantage a lefties has when playing  against others ( even other lefties) is  that it always appears to the player tackling /covering them that they could not cut in/ get around/make the cross.  No amount of advice or preparation  helps or the number of time in a game. It would appears to be an optical thing.  
A lefty can wrong foot the opposition every time and a small lefty  has excellent balance, a tight centre of gravity which gives greater control.

Duff may well have had an injury earlier in the season,  but the big difference since December is that we operate in the main without a left wing.  Moussa has a good understanding with Duff. So Duff is getting ten  time the amount of service now.  In recent games you never see him with his hands in the air, unmarked,  calling for the ball.  Prior to December he did that a lot  of that  or defending......as Boyo says............confidence of being on the team sheet every week. being a lefty he will always fool the opposition .  
He may be old but he is one class act :045:

[GoldCoastWhite]

Don't mess with old farts...age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill! Bull**** and brilliance only come with age and experience ! Keep on keeping on Duffer  :Sparkyticus:

[Snibbo]

sewing the semen of doubt in the defender's mind.  

Is that akin to f**king with his mind?

[jarv]

In my playing days (a long time ago and at a much lower level) I always preferred playing left back. I was right footed (but had a decent left).
I found to try to make my life easier....show the right winger the outside and stay with him, do not try to tackle with the left foot. This would cause a number of different results, none of them good. When he tries to come inside, now he is on my strong side.
Chris baird has been very effective when in this situation this season at left back.
DD, a very skilled and good pro, has the bonus of a very good right foot too. When facing a guy who can go either way, it is a nightmare. At any level.

[MJG]

Same here, right footed but played most of time at LB or LM. If like me you have no pace much easier to go infield when attacking and when defending show them outside and get them if they turn in on your right.