Damien Duff scored a good hat trick on Saturday, and looked a completely different player than he has looked over the last two seasons.
Damien Duff - looked so fit on Saturday
The 29-year-old Dublin-born Irishman, was obviously feeling the benefits of a good two weeks of pre-season training with Kevin Keegan and the Newcastle coaching staff.
He was in great form against Hartlepool, and got 3 good goals, which is one more than he’s scored in competitive games, since arriving at Newcastle two years ago, from Chelsea.
Kevin Keegan was asked if Duff is the fittest he has been since his £5M transfer from Chelsea and Keegan said:
“There’s absolutely no doubt of that. The lad has never had a pre-season for three years.”
“He is at the weight he was when he was 18 and he has worked so hard in training, the running and the way he has worked with everything we have put on probably showed out there on Saturday.”
“After 70, 80 minutes, he still looked like he had got a turbo-charger in him, as did James Milner and a couple of the others.”
“You have just got a draw a line under where he has been and just judge him from now, now he has had a chance to put a foundation into his season, which he hasn’t had for three years.”
“I think you will see a different Damien Duff this season. There were signs of that on Saturday, but obviously, there is more to come.”
Duff, Shay Given, Charles N’Zogbia and Obafemi Martins have all been linked with a move away from the Tyneside club this summer, but Keegan is determined to retain the services of them all, including the Irishman.
Damien was storming down the wing on Saturday afternoon, looking every bit like his old self.
Keegan talked about Duff:
“There has been speculation about every one of our players, but I definitely want to keep him.”
“He is a good character around the place, he sets a good standard in training along with three or four of the other players.”
“They set the standards, they are the ones who do it right every day. Rain or
sunshine, it doesn’t make any difference to them.”“We are very strong now in certain positions. Where Damien plays is where Gutierrez can play, where James Milner can play, where Charles N’Zogbia can play and where Geremi can play.”
“We have got five very good players competing for two-and-a-half places in the team.”
“We haven’t got that everywhere, so we need to address that and that is what we are trying to do.”
“It might look like not so successfully at the moment, but there is a long time to go and there will be plenty of opportunities.”
“If the right player comes along and we think he is right for Newcastle United, we will be in there pitching.”
A couple of good players coming into the club early this week, would be a tonic for the club and the fans, but we’ll not get our hopes up too much.
But we’ll be checking www.nufc.co.uk regularly tomorrow, that’s for sure.
Comments welcome.
35 responses so far ↓
1 natedawg // Jul 21, 2008 at 1:30 AM
if this time in a week no other signings are made then i might start looking at the date a bit more apprehensively
2 Mitch H // Jul 21, 2008 at 1:41 AM
If Duffers can re-captutre his Blackburn/first season at Chelski form, we are gonna have both wings covered, with Gutierrez & Duff causing havoc down the flanks.
3 Malaysian Toon // Jul 21, 2008 at 1:51 AM
The Duff Hatrick comments have been a bit overwritten about everywhere….kinda shows our desperation for good news huh
But it still feels good to see the Duffster come good. Hope he does the same in actual competetive games this season.
4 Toooooooooooooooooon // Jul 21, 2008 at 2:17 AM
too early to tell. might increase the pressure for him to perform and in the end might end as the first two seasons
5 Derdi4Toon // Jul 21, 2008 at 2:40 AM
illusion. don’t care he scores 3 or 5 against a lower league side in the 1st pre-season game. Luque and Smith looked in-form and scored last pre-season didn’t they. but still a good thing coz he may be sold at a slightly better price. can’t see his pace and effectiveness recovered. his age certainly against him as a rather one-footed winger and we can’t afford nor support a Giggs’ type past-it winger in the team as ManU does. can’t wait to sell him at 4m and get Villanueva or Buonanotte to replace him.
6 Sav // Jul 21, 2008 at 2:51 AM
Duffer is, frankly, a cut above most of what we’ve got on the playing staff. He’s been in recovery for the last two seasons and some fans had forgotten or didn’t know what we’ve got in the flying Irishman. KK is the bloke to bring the best out of the intelligent attacking play Damo can produce. If we get that for the coming season we’ll soon forget about Arda Turan and Arshavin. I hope so. Luque and Smith were never in the same class, and 4 million is not gonna buy you a Duff on top form.
7 howaytheladsII // Jul 21, 2008 at 3:38 AM
i hope he can be fit again
8 tapir // Jul 21, 2008 at 5:41 AM
i have a question
-i tot before the EURO started, we have submit 9M offer to B.Gomis
any news on that?????
9 Tasty Magpie // Jul 21, 2008 at 7:07 AM
I see that all the papers are reporting Kev as saying he wants 4 more signings. Thats a disappointingly small number considering all we’ve let leave so far this summer.
So will it be 1 left back, 1 center back, 1 attacking midfielder, 1 striker
or as the times are saying 1 left back, 2 center backs, 1 attacking mid…. I really want to see a new striker coming in as well as the creative midfielder and defenders.
10 ilkkatoon // Jul 21, 2008 at 7:38 AM
We’ve only let out 6 players with the hope of Ameobi and Smith out aswell =D it will be 8 and with 2 in we should get 4-5 signings and another 2 in january I really hope we can get at least 1 quality signing in Xabi alonzo seems unrealistic but he is absolute quality and wants out of Liverpool
11 Tom4Nufc // Jul 21, 2008 at 7:59 AM
I think 4-5 more signings and we will be sorted, aslong as King Kev bloods the youngsters like Kadar, Tozer, LuaLua etc.
12 ANON // Jul 21, 2008 at 9:23 AM
King Kev is a master at not letting anything out of the bag.
When he says he only needs 4 more qulaity signings, this probably means four more ‘established’ players!!
Or it could also mean, he already has 1 or 2 in the bag that we dont know about and he needs another four more signings!!
here’s hoping
Me??
I think we need
2 Defenders CB/LB(Established CB/Cover LB for enrique)
2 Creative Midfield Playmaker (its our luck that one gets injured and we simply havent got another to step into his shoes)
1 Defensive Midfielder (Cover for/replace N.Butt)
1 Striker (’second striker’)
6 Players??
We have let about 7 go havent we and we already had a threadbare squad!
Anybody agree/disagree
13 HeronMag // Jul 21, 2008 at 9:24 AM
It’s easy to forget that Duff was valued in the £20m bracket when at Blackburn.
If he can play anything near that level for us I’ll be chuffed!
14 John // Jul 21, 2008 at 9:32 AM
I think 4 players would be enough…We only competing in the premiership and hopefully a good cup run.
Good example would be Villa…They had a very small squad last year and no right back and did excellent….
As long as we got players who can be used in a couple off positions we will be ok with another 4 coming in..
I dont think he will sign another striker as it looks like we’ll probably go with 442 this year..Strikers will be smith / Viduka / Owen / Martins …..We’ll probably buy another centre back, left back, Defensive mid , attacking mid
15 Spyro // Jul 21, 2008 at 9:46 AM
want to see a DM/CM, two CB’s and one LB arrive
16 Tom4Nufc // Jul 21, 2008 at 9:46 AM
John- Wilfred Bouma is a rb. Who plays for AV
17 Tom4Nufc // Jul 21, 2008 at 9:48 AM
1 CB, 1 LB (cover), 1 CAM, 1 CDM, 1 Striker.
18 Tom4Nufc // Jul 21, 2008 at 9:54 AM
Ivan Rakitic has’nt signed for anyone yet, any chance we could get him, he is a fantastic youngster for a 20 yr old.
Any Opinions on him?
19 John // Jul 21, 2008 at 9:55 AM
Tom4Nufc bouma is all left foot mate…He’s there left back…They were playing Melberg as there right back , but he’s prefered position is centre back…He’s a shocking right back and they still did well
20 Midjew // Jul 21, 2008 at 9:56 AM
Tom4NUFC -
I Completley AGREE.
They are DEF the positions we need so at least 5 new players.
—————-Given——————–
Beye—–??????—-Faye/Tayor—-Enrique
Milner—–?????—–N’Zogbia—–Jonas—
———Owen——–Martins/Duke——-
Subs: ?????/Duff/?????/Butt/?????/Carrol/?????
Need those ?’s filled in with…,.
Cueller
Veloso
to start
21 Spyro // Jul 21, 2008 at 9:58 AM
Midjew why would Barton and Guthrie both be missing?
22 John // Jul 21, 2008 at 9:58 AM
where’s Guthrie, Barton , Geremi, Cacapa, and Smith
23 TrueMag // Jul 21, 2008 at 9:58 AM
Tom4nufc- bouma is a left sided player,who either played left back or covered at ch,cant remember him ever playin at rb
24 Spyro // Jul 21, 2008 at 10:01 AM
exactly John
25 tapir // Jul 21, 2008 at 10:06 AM
-i tot before the EURO started, we have submit 9M offer to B.Gomis
any news on that?????
26 ToonKing // Jul 21, 2008 at 10:11 AM
i’m pretty sure were sign more then 4-5 players, KK is not a guy known for blooding in youngsters.
27 Beastie // Jul 21, 2008 at 10:15 AM
4 top quality players, well good left back, centre half, creative midfielder and a striker? does any 1 know if arda turan has been transfered or has he just fallin off the face of the planet? also the lad from rangers cuelluer any news on him or has that died off?
28 Will // Jul 21, 2008 at 10:15 AM
Smith is pure stains, Spyro, that’s why he ain’t there. Cacapa is pure dead wood and Barton should be sacked. He’s expressing his opinion of the players, albeit in an indirect way.
I definately would have Danny Guthrie in there though on the the bench.
I am pining for a AMC or at least a creative MC. Emre never cut it but i think N’zogbia would be more suited in Emre’s MC(L) position rather than on the wing.
@ Tapir. i think the was shunned/declined by the the player (Gomis).
@ Beastie – he hasn’t been transferred mate and there isn’t one on the cards ATM.
29 broon ale // Jul 21, 2008 at 10:16 AM
tapir-it was all paper talk.
you have seen for yourself that the 2 players we have signed were not reported in the media.
there was a few whispers about guthrie in june and that was about it.
the fact gomis was rumoured in the media suggests it probably wasn’t true.
30 Spyro // Jul 21, 2008 at 10:19 AM
Arda rumours have died down because everyone knows he is ridiculously overpriced. Gomis rumours died down because he was crap in the Euro’s. Same goes for Gomez.
Barton is one of our best, if not THE best midfielder we have despite what he has done. We need him
31 John // Jul 21, 2008 at 10:26 AM
also barton is still in the squad whether you like him or not….Its a fact, there all first teamers until sold or sacked..
32 gorskino10 // Jul 21, 2008 at 10:50 AM
I just feel we cant be thinking about him in the team with one good proformance thats like us all thinking Smith’s a prolific goalscorer when he scores 1 goal lol.
33 reillers // Jul 21, 2008 at 11:09 AM
I said he wasn’t done, that there was a lot more in him. That was like the old Duff and fine, it was against a poorer team but it just shows signs, signs that we’ve seen in the Irish matches, of what was to come. Duff have never really gotten a chance here, he’s always been injured or just over injury. He wants to stay and he wants to show that he’s still a bloody good player.
34 Davies // Jul 21, 2008 at 11:13 AM
Wish we’d sell Barton. Could really use the cash to buy somebody I don’t dislike with such a passion.
I think that if we get an experienced CB, we can certainly use Faye in a DM role. He’s quite good at it, and it would save the club a few quid.
Can’t see us going for another striker and, sadly, it looks like we’re keeping Smith, though his work rate and commitment might be put to better use under KK this term. I like the bloke as it goes. Few put in as much hard work as he does, it’s just a shame he hasn’t scored for us yet.
It’s even possible that we may still have Ameobi at the end of the window. Does anybody know how he did on Saturday?
I really would like Seb Larsson, but again, he strikes me as more of a wing man, and it now appears that we have “useful” wingers coming out of every orrifice.
I think and ACM will be one of the things Keegan’s looking at, along with a competitor for Wor Jose’s spot in LB.
Just hope we pick somebody up soon. I’m getting sick of being continually linked with tw@s like Chimbonda.
35 Marty // Jul 22, 2008 at 9:28 AM
Seems like all the DUFF boo boys have gone away………………..
I`ve been saying for ages that we should keep him n that he would come good if injury free.
Hope he does,class player!
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