THAT HAAL’ DO NICELY
Duff has forward Boyd studying City ace Erling
DAMIEN DUFF has tasked his Shelbourne strikers with studying Erling Haaland as he wants them to learn from the best.
The Ireland legend has compiled a 15-minute video of the Manchester City superstar’s best bits having smashed 14 goals in 10 appearances to date for his new club..
Duff is particularly interested in showing his players how the big Norwegian makes space out of nothing close to goal.
And there are signs it is already working because Sean Boyd made the best of a tight situation to score Shels’ second in Sunday’s FAI Cup quarterfinal romp against Bohs.
The rangy forward’s confidence was soaring as he caused the Gypsies all sorts of headaches and he finished off the job with a second goal late on.
He has also signed a new contract until the end of 2023.
Duff said: “Erling Haaland, for me, is the best striker in the world. I’ve made a video, borderline a meeting, on him which lasts about 15 minutes because I love him so much.
“Any striker that signs for the club, any young players, Gavin Hodgins, they’ve all seen it. It’s just all positional play in the box.
“He’s quick, he’s strong, he can finish but it comes down to positional play. It’s the exact same as (Robert) Lewandowski.
“The video that I made for Sean, he has it on his phone and I think he watches it daily.
Early
“His first goal on Sunday looked like something you’d see from Haaland.
“It was out of the player’s eyeline, go into the goal, come in, back early and nobody sees him.
“He put the ball into the net but Haaland, yeah, we reference him a lot.”
Duff is determined to keep Boyd’s feet on the ground and joked that he would only get big headed from the praise.
But considering the injury issues the former Shamrock Rovers youngster has endured, the Shels boss is happy to see him shine.
“He’s a handful, a League of Ireland centre-forward, full stop. I think he probably rubs people up the wrong way with the amount of bookings and reds he gets,” said Duff.
“He rubs me up the wrong way. He broke the dugout last Friday against Sligo when I took him off, which he’ll be paying for.
“Listen, you can’t argue with him and he was an absolute handful on Sunday, along with the other two in the frontline.
‘But Sean knows that I have to be on him 24-7 because complimenting him, you guys telling him how good he is, he’ll be like this [gestures big head].” Boyd, 24, appreciates the lengths Duff is going to in order to help him improve his game as Shels target an FAI Cup final if they can edge past Waterford in the semis.
Boyd said: “The manager talks to me a lot about Haaland. See when he’s in the box, none of the defenders can see him, he always stays over the far side.
Snuck
“I don’t think the defender could see me on Sunday and I had it in my head to stay on the blind side of him and just snuck in.”
Boyd added: “The manger drills it into me about timing and leaving it as late as possible to attack.
“Sometimes it’s hard when you’re in the heat of the moment but if you can think clearly it will help.
“It was a great feeling to win that game and there’s been something brewing in the dressing room the last couple of weeks.”