Murphy Pulls No Punches
Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 8:10 amHe actually names the managers he thinks are responsible, surely bringing the game into disrepute and a charge should follow? And the scouser actually talks about logic and intelligence, oh the irony.
Danny Murphy blasts 'brainless' tacklers and accuses managers of inciting their players:
Danny Murphy, the Fulham captain, has launched a fierce attack on some of the “brainless” tackling in the Premier League and accused Tony Pulis, Sam Allardyce and Mick McCarthy of effectively inciting their own players.
The pace some of the players are going into tackles at is ridiculous,” said Murphy. “There are no brains in the players doing that. I don’t believe they are going out to break the legs of their opponents but there’s no logic or intelligence in what they are doing.
“If you’re going in at a certain pace and don’t get it right you are going to hurt someone. Players need to be more intelligent, especially the ones who are doing it repeatedly. They are culpable in that.”
Murphy believes that the influence of the club managers is being underestimated in the current debate and he particularly highlighted the style of Stoke City, Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
“You get managers sending teams out to stop other sides from playing, which is happening more and more,” he said. “Stoke, Blackburn and Wolves — you can say they’re doing what they can to win the game — but the fact is that the managers are sending the players out so pumped up that inevitably there are going to be problems.
“The thing I think people miss is that it’s the managers who dictate what the players do and how they behave. If you have a manager in control of his team, who doesn’t allow these things to go on you have a more disciplined team.
“Fulham under Roy Hodgson were top of the Fair Play League because he wouldn’t accept talking back to the referee or stupid tackles. You can look at the players and blame them. But every team has a captain and a manager who is in charge.”
Fulham have lost Bobby Zamora this season to a broken leg following a challenge by Wolves’ Karl Henry, while Moussa Dembele has not played following a widely condemned tackle from Stoke’s Andy Wilkinson.
Fulham were also unhappy with a challenge from Blackburn’s El-Hadj Diouf on Mark Schwarzer earlier this season. Murphy, who speaking at the Leaders in Football conference, believes that there is now a strong argument for retrospective disciplinary action.
“Referees can’t get it always right,” he said. “If there was a board of ex-professionals, who know what was a bad tackle or whether a decision was right or wrong then the people who deserve to get punished will get punished.”
Dr Michel D’Hooghe, a member of Fifa’s executive committee, also offered his support to Holland coach Bert van Marwijk for dropping Manchester City midfielder Nigel de Jong over his leg-breaking tackle on Hatem Ben Arfa.
“I have made a compilation of brutality over the last two or three years in the main competitions in the world and it is amazing,” said D’Hooghe.
“On the one hand I am happy that some leaders take responsibility – on the other hand I am very sad that he [Van Marwijk] did not do the same at the final of the World Cup.”
Danny Murphy blasts 'brainless' tacklers and accuses managers of inciting their players:
Danny Murphy, the Fulham captain, has launched a fierce attack on some of the “brainless” tackling in the Premier League and accused Tony Pulis, Sam Allardyce and Mick McCarthy of effectively inciting their own players.
The pace some of the players are going into tackles at is ridiculous,” said Murphy. “There are no brains in the players doing that. I don’t believe they are going out to break the legs of their opponents but there’s no logic or intelligence in what they are doing.
“If you’re going in at a certain pace and don’t get it right you are going to hurt someone. Players need to be more intelligent, especially the ones who are doing it repeatedly. They are culpable in that.”
Murphy believes that the influence of the club managers is being underestimated in the current debate and he particularly highlighted the style of Stoke City, Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
“You get managers sending teams out to stop other sides from playing, which is happening more and more,” he said. “Stoke, Blackburn and Wolves — you can say they’re doing what they can to win the game — but the fact is that the managers are sending the players out so pumped up that inevitably there are going to be problems.
“The thing I think people miss is that it’s the managers who dictate what the players do and how they behave. If you have a manager in control of his team, who doesn’t allow these things to go on you have a more disciplined team.
“Fulham under Roy Hodgson were top of the Fair Play League because he wouldn’t accept talking back to the referee or stupid tackles. You can look at the players and blame them. But every team has a captain and a manager who is in charge.”
Fulham have lost Bobby Zamora this season to a broken leg following a challenge by Wolves’ Karl Henry, while Moussa Dembele has not played following a widely condemned tackle from Stoke’s Andy Wilkinson.
Fulham were also unhappy with a challenge from Blackburn’s El-Hadj Diouf on Mark Schwarzer earlier this season. Murphy, who speaking at the Leaders in Football conference, believes that there is now a strong argument for retrospective disciplinary action.
“Referees can’t get it always right,” he said. “If there was a board of ex-professionals, who know what was a bad tackle or whether a decision was right or wrong then the people who deserve to get punished will get punished.”
Dr Michel D’Hooghe, a member of Fifa’s executive committee, also offered his support to Holland coach Bert van Marwijk for dropping Manchester City midfielder Nigel de Jong over his leg-breaking tackle on Hatem Ben Arfa.
“I have made a compilation of brutality over the last two or three years in the main competitions in the world and it is amazing,” said D’Hooghe.
“On the one hand I am happy that some leaders take responsibility – on the other hand I am very sad that he [Van Marwijk] did not do the same at the final of the World Cup.”