New Swansea City manager Michael Duff is renowned for a pretty rigid 3-5-2 formation, and that has served him well since he made his first steps in to management. At Cheltenham and then Barnsley the vast majority of his games were centred around this preferred strategic choice. However, it really isn’t as simple as that.
First of all we should visit what other managers think of Duff as a tactician and coach.
Last season Duff was criticised at times for ‘lacking ambition’ in certain games. Bolton Wanderers boss Ian Evatt called Duff out on his tactics but the Barnsley manager replied. It’s never a case of shutting up shop; it’s being difficult to beat, hard to play against and picking your moments” Darren Moore until very recently Sheffield Wednesday manager is a huge fan of Duff and his abilities."Because he’s thorough, he’s meticulous with his work, he’s a worker, he sees the game, he understands the game and he’s very astute with his approach in the game in terms of how he sets his team up and understanding the strengths and weaknesses that his team has. So if you embody that with where he’s at, it shows the level of consistency, he’s got wonderful leadership qualities, he’s clear and methodical with his approach and he’s clear with his views.”
If we look at defensive knowledge then this has been a hallmark of Duff’s Barnsley side last season. He retained the same counter-attacking 3-5-2 that he brought him such success at Cheltenham — but he has increasingly found a better balance between being solid at the back and scoring at the other end. Barnsley’s record on goals scored and conceded over the regular season was nearly identical to champions Plymouth Argyle: the same number of goals conceded, forty seven, and just two goals fewer scored: eighty for Barnsley, eighty two for Plymouth.
That’s pretty impressive despite losing right at the last in the League One play off final to Moore’s Sheffield Wednesday. Previous to moving to Barnsley Duff took Cheltenham Town up from League two as champions, and the season after that to their highest ever league finish in their history. That’s what attracted Barnsley to Duff and the reason he left Cheltenham Town. He really couldn’t take the Robins any further. His parting comment to Evatt at Bolton was a simple one. "You can talk about philosophies but can you get a group to work hard and stick together? That’s what we have done this season and proved to be good at it.”
Duff is clearly confident in his ability, and he knows how to get his side working as a unit. His defensive organisation is the starting point. Duff is noted as coaching his sides to press high and remain in shape. However, it’s not all press and hold. Duff employed a long throw during Cheltenham Town’s championship winning season, that effective player was Ben Tozer, and it worked. We shouldn’t be too hasty on these tactics though. Duff also displayed the other side of his strategic thinking whilst at Cheltenham and Barnsley. A distinct and patient passing style that could erupt and open up the opposition defence is also the mainstay of Duff’s mindset. Being able to quickly switch quickly to expose the opposition is what many evidence as the reason why Barnsley scored so many goals last season. If you’ve read elsewhere that Duff doesn’t care too much about not having the ball, then you really have been slightly misled.
For Duff at Barnsley last season started with numerous players leaving the club that summer, the heart beat of the club upped sticks and were either sold or given free moves. The outcome of relegation is cruel at times. Duff lost his best players within days of arriving at Oakwell. Leon Wobschall of the Yorkshire Post explains. "They sold Carlton Morris, they sold Cauley Woodrow ( both to Luton via Paul Watson ) they sold Callum Brittain ( Blackburn ) then Callum Styles went to Millwall on loan. He had all that to contend with. I think he himself said it was 'chaos at best'. So most Barnsley fans were hoping just to steady the ship, either get top ten or get top half " That didn’t phase him and he quickly built a foundation which took the Yorkshire side to Wembley. That alerted Huddersfield Town who right up until Swansea got involved with Duff were favourites to steal him away as their new manager.
Michael Duff didn’t need a season or even two to manage his side to near play off success.
It’s clear Swansea fans won’t see the patient build up play that Russell Martin favoured, but they will see more endeavour,chasing down and dynamic switching of tactics to exploit the opposition. These were areas that Martin very often failed to implement, be that by choice or an inability to see what needed to change in a game.
Duff’s football career spanned the divisions with Cheltenham and then Burnley. At the Clarets he played in the Championship and the Premier League. Under the guidance of Sean Dyche, Duff picked up many of the ruthless attributes Dyche insists on in his players. Relentless energy is one area, but he also took a lot of his ideas from Steve Cotterill, their friendship goes back thirty years. Cotterill tried to sign Duff twice whilst at Stoke City, this after he managed to get him to Burnley from Cheltenham in 2004 in a steal of a deal, just thirty thousand pounds.
For all the football talk Duff still lives in Cheltenham preferring to commute and cherishes his family time. He has two children, Tommy, and wait for it - ‘Jack ‘ and his wife Jess has been the mainstay of Duff’s career behind the scenes. Talking last season Duff said. "It's important that I am a dad and a husband at home. When I drive back, I spend most of my time on the phone as when I am at home, I can't be on the phone. It is a big deal as the family were part of me coming to Barnsley. On Monday morning when it is hammering down with rain, the wife is the one walking the dog and I have a fifteen and a twelve year old, and they have something on every night of the week. She is having to do that while I am about watching football”
When you have all your ducks ( or tofu ) lined up and you can shoot them happily safe in the knowledge your family are prospering - despite travelling long distances then work becomes a pleasure. The success that Michael Duff is experiencing is as much to do with that than anything else.
And thankfully now, Swansea City have got their man !