Forget Webster v Duffy – Potter should have room for both
Adam Webster or Shane Duffy? Which one should be starting regularly alongside Lewis Dunk at the heart of the Brighton defence is a debate that has been raging since the events at Anfield on Saturday afternoon.
Virgin van Dijk scoring two headers from set pieces in the space of five first half minutes has sparked an interesting discussion about the merits of both players. Reading some of the comments online, there’s a divide nearly as big as Brexit, just without a load of lies painted on the side of a big red bus.
Some would argue that with Duffy starting at Liverpool, Brighton earn a point. The Irishman’s aerial prowess is far superior to anyone else in the Albion squad and as such, with him on the pitch then van Dijk isn’t getting two relatively easy headers.
And they’ve got a point. Duffy won 187 aerial battles in 2018-19, the seventh most in the Premier League. He was third with 198 the season before. Both of those numbers put him above van Dijk, who won 181 for Liverpool last season and 139 the year before when he represented both the Reds and Southampton.
The counter argument is that we’ve moved on from Duffy and if you truly buy into Potterball, then Webster is the future. And that also happens to be true.
There’s something exciting about the £18m signing from Bristol City. Not just that he can pass the ball out from the back, but the way that he steps out of defence in possession in a manner that no other Albion defender can do.
It’s reminiscent of when Gordon Greer arrived at the Albion in the summer of 2010. Before Gordo, we’d never really had a centre back who wanted the goalkeeper to give him the ball at every opportunity.
Many people could only watch though their fingers as Greer stroked it around the back line, playing short one-touch passes in tight spaces. He was something completely new to what had gone before and because of that, he was pivotal to the way that Gus Poyet wanted his Brighton side to play the game. Webster is, in effect, Potter’s Greer.
By the end of Poyet’s three-and-a-half year reign, some would say that he became too wedded to his philosophy. It’s why he never got enough goals out of Craig Mackail-Smith and it’s why going to away games would often be a chore in the Championship, where we’d have possession for possessions sake and barely register a shot on target as a result.
And there’s a lesson to be had there for those on both sides of the Webster versus Duffy debate. Philosophies are all well and good, but you still need to be flexible and pragmatic enough to realise that on occasions, you need to adapt to the challenge facing you. And that means that Potter should have room for both Webster and Duffy.
Currently, Duffy is the better defender, Webster is the better footballer. There will be games in the Premier League in which the Albion will expect to do a lot of defending if they’re to have a chance of picking something up, such as those away at the big six.
On those occasions, you surely want a man who will head, block and tackle anything that moves in your starting XI over someone who can play a 20 yard pass or run up the pitch with the ball – in which case, you pick Duffy. That should have been the case at Liverpool. Webster also had something of a shocker at Chelsea. You can probably see the pattern developing.
Then there will be games away in which Potter will expect his side to dominate, attack the opposition and be proactive in seeking out victory. In those, Webster’s ball playing skills and his ability to seamlessly support the midfield and forwards further up the pitch become of greater value than Duffy being a brick wall.
It’s rather like having a choice of dating Miley Cyrus or Ariana Grande. There are plenty of occasions when Miley would be the better option; she drinks and does god knows what else, you’d get to hang out with Billy Ray Cyrus and would have an all-round fun time.
But when it comes to family meals and meeting the grandparents, would you really want to introduce someone to your 90-year-old grandmother who once swung around naked on a giant ball and pole danced on stage at a Teens Choice Music Award?
The answer is no. You’d want Ariana, the kind-hearted, dependable woman who nobody seems to have a bad word to say about. Two very fine females but both with different traits that suit different situations.
Of course, the issue is complicated slightly by Duffy’s extra curricular activities. From day one, Potter has cleared out all those at the club who he believes to have questionable attitudes – Anthony Knockaert was packed off to Fulham after less than a month, Jurgen Locadia’s laziness is now at Hoffenheim and the walking red card that is Florin Andone was sent to Galatasary.
Duffy likes a drink and that was never likely to sit well with Potter. He’s still here though and as he has shown in his limited Premier League game time so far, he still has something to contribute. When the time is right – and there will be occasions when it is – then Duffy is going to be a better option than Webster.
In the long term, Webster may yet develop the skills to rival Duffy defensively. Webster is 24-years-old and has only been playing regularly at Championship level since 2017.
He’s just 10 games into his Premier League career and given his rapid rate of ascent through the football pyramid so far, the suspicion is that he’s going to get better and better.
If that is the case, then we’ve got a potential star on our hands. There will be few complaints if Duffy is sat on the sidelines at the likes of Anfield and Stamford Bridge once Webster has improved defensively. But right now, there are certain games when Duffy should be starting.
If Duffy wants to play regular first team football and Potter is ready to listen to offers for him in either January or the summer – a strong possibility with Ben White and Matt Clarke both to return from their loans with The Leeds United and Derby County – then Duffy may not be an Albion player for much longer.
We should be making the most of his skills while we can. Forget Webster v Duffy – Potter should have room for both.
