murphy

Many of you are going to think blasphemy, but . . . is anyone frustrated watching Danny Murphy? I know the guy is all heart but for me he has a high giveaway rate. No questioning his workrate.

 

I like Murphy and his contribution to Fulham overall but he has had more stinkers than good matches so far this season.

 

He's having a bad year and is getting up there in age. I think we should start looking at options for the future as I don't think he has much great play left.

 

He's won more than a few balls this year with nice tackles in the midfield, and still drives the attack. Maybe not often enough yesterday. Besides, only a month ago against Chris Smalling's future employers, he had a great game.

He's older, but I say he stays for a while.

Also, welcome to the site.

 

I just think his playing time needs to be managed better; I don't think he can be effective playing more than one full game a week. i.e., if we're playing more than one game in a week, have him play one game and available as a "super-sub" to settle down the midfield if needed, in the second.

He also plays better alongside someone he knows; part of his problem yesterday was the movement of Chicago.

 

I'm sure Murphy is his own worst critic, and without a doubt he knows he needs to play better. Here's a question, what other option is there?? Gera would probably be the only other player on the current roster capable of filling the spot. The captain's strength is to orchestrate and without the overlapping strength of Pants and Konch he's seems to be out of sorts.

 

Although his performances (other than his goal against Man Utd.) have definitely slipped this season, in his defense, oppositions are clogging the middle b/c Fulham have no width that causes concern now that Pants and Konch are out. Murphy needs a little space to operate these days and he's simply not getting it. Now when he has acres of space and still passes it to the opposition's CB, there's something wrong...

 

thanks for the welcoming. I too recognize the flux in the roster due to injury, however, the giveaways occur in too many games under too little pressure. I like Jedi's idea of 'supersub'. As far a replacement, I am unsure. Maybe Gera and/or Davis in a different formation?

 

Simon appears to be the odd man out in the midfield when everyone's healthy so he would be my pick after Dempsey returns. Gera lacks the vision and creativity from the midfield. For some reason, he's much more creative in the box, but outside it, he just passes sideways to the cm's.

While I agree with Joe that the fullbacks missing isn't helping Murph, that's only a recent development. My guess is that Danny's lost a step and/or his reactions have slowed a touch. Not exactly uncommon at this stage. I thought last year it would be a good idea to get a replacement to groom under him in the summer window. Instead we got a bunch of defensive mids. Greening was probably supposed to be that option but he's only 2 yrs younger and hasn't shown an ability to spark the offense.

With the other more pressing needs, I think the best bet is Andy's idea and then trying a number of guys in the spot when Danny's out. I wouldn't try Duff or Dempsey b/c they're our best attacking options on the wings.

 

I don't know - once they're all healthy, Duff on one side, Davies on the other, and Dempsey in the middle, in front of a good defensive mid and we'd have lots of attacking flair.

Fulham, we put the 'D' in offense.

:-D

 

Don. I think it may be based on home/away and opponent class. IMO, we should adjust our lineup based on those kinds of factors.