Murphy

[dannydog]

Anyone else think he was poor today ? Seemed to give the ball away loads always tries to make a killer pass but they get cut out and set the opposition up for a counter, that ball to Shorey near the end was a shocker.

[Brede Butter Pudding]

Not sure what match you were watching mate but I thought he was class. Inch perfect passes, bar a few, but compare his passing ability today to Etuhu's, Hangeland's etc he was one of the reasons we won. I thought he had a class game

[FFCOutpostCommander]

Watching him at the end of the match I was just in awe of his stamina. He is still one of our hardest working players and even though his passes are sometimes off, the ones he completes are just killer for the opposition. Some very strong challenges too. I'm happy just to have his mind on the pitch for us as he reads the game as well as anyone I've seen going both ways.

[Logicalman]

Sorry BBP, seems I was watching the same match as Danny here, and what I saw was a Murphy that took an extra 1/2 second when receiving the ball, to play it out again, letting the Brum midfield pressure him, causing a number of his passes to either go astray, or for him to get mugged.

He has been off the boil for the past couple of months, and his below-par appearances in January contributed to our dropping points away to Stoke and Blackburn. If you want to be sure, just look at the replays of those matches, including today's, and you'll see what I mean. That isn't to say that a below-par Murphy isn't still an asset to the team, his experience counts for a lot, but, as we saw at Bolton this month, when Murphy is neutralized, then we have a tough time getting the ball up front, giving the strikers fair whack at knocking them in.

[Brede Butter Pudding]

I have to disagree. Admittedly he was poor against Blackburn and Stoke but that's because he was physically bullied by them. Today I felt he was back to near his best, although a few of his passes were quite wayward. I think he's the best CM we have and is one of the most creative players we have available.

[Hazey]

I thought he was neither exceptional nor bad.  I think he got very little assistance from Etuhu who was planted in the middle of the ground pretty much, leaving Murphy to do alot of the harrassing and chasing which would have tired him.

[dannydog]

The longer the game went on the poorer his passes became, don't get me wrong I love the guy but today and recently his passing has not been great and he is too ponderous.

[TonyGilroy]

I thought today he was back to his very best.

Whilst others tired he kept going and showed real leadership. Birmingham were entirely fair but were fit, relentless, in our faces and we matched that.

This was a war of attrition with 3 excellent strikes.

There seems to be a need to always find a player to criticise but as ever this was a team performance with exceptional leadership on the pitch from Danny Murphy. Not a classic game but we're back now to being a very hard team to beat.

[Sector9]

Wow - seems to be very different opinions, something he's at his best - some not.

I have to agree, I think he looked sluggish at times, and whilst watching the first half of shakter I thought the same.

He can change a game with one killer pass, but apart from that I don't think he's got much going for him at the moment.

Very hit and miss, sometimes really late challenges, sometimes the perfect challenge.

He has had some good moments in the box recently though.

[VicHalomsLovechild]

Be fair people, he'd had a big game for us Thursday night. He's no spring chicken. 

[FFCOutpostCommander]

Even the match report on the offil spoke of how Lee Bowyer was dispatched by Birmingham to stay on Murphy and yet he still influenced the play. It's no longer a secret that he has to be taken out for any hope for our opponents so naturally he won't seem as effective as in earlier times. That alone makes him very valuable to our side by allowing more space and time for everyone else. Seems to be working well if you look how well spread out our goals and assists are in recent times.

[KCat]

I AGREE WITH VIC ..HE IS NO SPRING CHICKEN .........(sorry for shouting)
but they are all tired .............I'm tired with two games a week ..they must be knackered
Danny  had  a surge of energy in the last quarter and while some of the passes he tried did not come off
he was very energetic ......Dixon, now Dixon .........what exactly happens at the african Cup of Nation ??? you send out a perfectly good player and get back a pedestrian ..............what is that all about ????? 
I do not think as most people seem to .........that Birmingham were that good ....the old long shanks,  long ball
and breaking up attacks by going to ground ...which fooled the silly ref .......
Never mind,  THREE POINTS

[White Noise]

Given the amount of attention he gets from the opposition and the varying support he gets from his central counterpart of the moment I think he is still remarkably influential.

I am predicting he will enjoy his best form of the season so far over the last third of the season.

[Rupert]

I'll be honest, I thought most of the team were off the pace today, not just our Danny, but given the heroics of Thursday night I was neither surprised nor particularly disappointed. A bloke did one of those internet interviews outside before the game started, I said I hoped for a 1-0 or 2-0 win, but would not be upset with a draw and even a defeat would not be the end of the world. Had we not played midweek I would have expected a good win, nothing less.
If anything that is an indication of how poor Brum were. Apart from rattling the bar in the second half (a superb shot and equally superb fingertip save by the big Aussie) they threatened us with very little. A few long range shots, some dangerous crosses, hell, we even had to score their goal for them to make the game interesting. Maybe they had an off day, or maybe our lot were a lot more effective than I am giving them credit for, but I think an on form top ten team would have taken advantage of us today, thank God it didn't happen.

So, no blame from me to Murphy or anyone else for a sub-par performance, as the saying goes, if you win when you are playing badly then you are a good team.