Danny Murphy's Thoughts

Thought about putting this in the "Now What" thread but wanted to make sure everyone had a chance to see it. I've included the text from the article, but if you click the link, he says a bit more in the audio. It's about 8 1/2 minutes long. It's very interesting as it confirms what many of us have thought and expressed concerns over. Due to the (perceived?) culture difference, I sometimes doubt my interpretation of what I'm seeing. So it's interesting to hear what someone who I hold in such high esteem as Murph thinks, especially since he still has ties to the club. This is "must hear" audio, imo.

http://talksport.com/football/exclu...ham-after-meulensteen-appointment-13120270283

 

Here's another one, this time Sean Davis.

http://talksport.com/football/exclusive-davis-jol-wanted-too-many-flair-players-fulham-13120270259

There's a common theme here and it makes me wonder a) how Mackintosh is still in a job and/or b) who holds the most influence on the club's transfer activity and direction? I wish someone who covers Fulham would cover this in depth.

 

I believe that statement is now confirmed as fact.

The comments by Murphy and Davis echo what we all believed to be the situation. I'd love to see either of those fellas in the coaching circle to provide a swift kick to the arse of our heartless and gutless squad - or anybody else with some bite as well.

Thanks for posting the Murphy and Davis quotes.

Only 3 points adrift at the beginning of December and the cancer resection has begun - COYW!!!!

 

I have to assume Mackintosh still has a job because the manager calls the shots of who Fulham go after. Mackintosh just goes and gets them and negotiates the deal. Prior to Jol, I was always impressed with him; he has, after all, been at the helm during Fulham's finest seasons. Even during Jol's reign I thought he got us some pretty big names for less than I could have imagined (admittedly I don't know player wages, though, so maybe not). Plus, with Khan an ocean away, he is probably running the club so I think he is needed.

Thanks for posting Murphy's comments though - very interesting. Surprised he was so candid in calling Berbatov out. While I understand why people say this about Berbatov, I dont 100% agree. I feel like I have seen him at times work hard and give everything, so he will do it. As recently as his last game versus Swansea, I thought he worked his tail off. Unfortunately, it looks like he has lost his confidence. How bad must things be with this team for the likes of Berbatov to have lost his confidence.

Sean Davis comments are interesting too, although he was with Fulham years ago. I guess he must talk with Parker and Sidwell.

 

Think it was Tony Gale that was (again) doing the color commentary on our disaster at West Ham, and his comments echo what Davis and Murphy have to say.

In that they're jingoistically simplistic; Davis' especially. My comments in ital:

"They’re trying to fit Dimitar Berbatov (moody and lazy! foreign too!), Darren Bent (English, but he's too soft!), Pajtim Kasami (foreign!) and Bryan Ruiz (zero work rate! foreign!) into the same team..."

No, what the side needs is not players like Sidwell and Parker to run around and "get stuck in" and play with passion and desire and all that crap. Statistically the Sidwell/Parker pairing has been a disaster and needs to end post haste.

What the side needs is talent and a plan. We allegedly have the talent--not much but it's there. We need the plan.

 

I completely disagree with you there. I've listened to Gale quite a bit over the years and I buy that you can make that case for him. However, I don't see it with Murphy. Having watched his play at Fulham, with plenty of international players, I wouldn't call his game simplistic and I strongly doubt he's "jingoistic".

The point is that on a budget like you have at Fulham, you can't afford the type of quality players who can make up for too many luxury players. City can get away with 3-4 Negredo/Aguero/Nasri type players b/c they have a world class all-around cm in Toure. He can cover more ground, more effectively than Parker or Sidwell. Davis said "Parker and Sidwell haven't run this much their entire careers". I don't see him saying we need more of the stuck in type player. Rather that with Bent, Berbatov and Ruiz, we are taxing our limited central midfield beyond their capabilities. Beyond what most managers have asked of them previously. Go back and look at the team under Roy. Davies and Duff were good defenders on the wing who tracked back. Dempsey got increasingly better at it each year. Zamora didn't offer too much defensively, but AJ ran his socks off hounding the back four and preventing them from getting comfortable. Would we rather have a Suarez or Rooney who can do that and pour in goals? Obviously, but we can't afford them. But all of those things meant we didn't overstretch our cm's.

If you look at the piece your friend Rich wrote: "Certainly when you compare him to our previous midfield maestro there is no comparison. Danny Murphy was a great passer who was a lot better than people realised defensively. Parker is good at a lot of things but arguably not in Murphy’s league in any of them. And he’s 33." I happen to agree with this. It applies even moreso to Sidwell. As a result, you can't partner either player with Boateng (who, imo, isn't as good defensively as Etuhu was from what I've seen of him either) and generate as much offense from that position as you could with Danny. And if you partner them together in the hopes of making up that offensive shortage, you sacrifice defense. And if you do it with too many players up front who don't contribute enough on the defensive end, you have what we have. A back four that is massively exposed and two cm's who are in over their heads. If we were able to reliably score goals by sacrificing defense, that would be another issue altogether. But with our slow attack and complete absence of shots, it's a downright suicidal way to play football. I don't see that as simplistic or jingoistic, I see it as a poorly constructed team short on balance. As a result, we've weakened the most essential part of the team, the spine.

I agree with you about being short on talent and not having a plan. Obviously the easiest thing to change is the plan aspect. Can we build a balanced side from the pieces we have? I'm not sure. Hopefully Meulensteen can come up with something that fits what we have. Then hopefully we can upgrade the talent just enough in January to give us a chance to survive and the club can look to kick on from there as we clear out some more of the older, larger contracts.