I will admit that I have been critical of Danny Murphy this season. Sometimes I feel that he loses his temper and follows it up by making a silly tackle. I feel that he has been lucky to avoid a booking or even a sending off on some occasions! I also feel that we need to start finding a suitable midfielder like him for the future because we will surely only have him for a few more seasons.
However, I was reading up on an article on Skysports and found a very interesting stat-
Successful passes by midfielders (2010/11):
1. Danny Murphy (1642)
2. Michael Essien (1596)
4. Gareth Barry (1365)
5. Alex Song (1354)
6. Yaya Toure (1330)
8. Jack Wilshere (1279)
9. David Vaughan (1272)
10. John Obi Mikel (1247)
Our man Dan sits at the top of the list with 1642 successful passes in the Premier League, a fantastic amount. All the players who are always talked about including Gerard (although he has missed alot of the season), Fabargas, Scholes and Giggs aren’t even mentioned in the top 10. This highlights way Murphy is so important to us. He maybe doesn’t score all the time, but he can certainly find a pass. He plays other players in and he spreads the ball wide as well as passing the ball out of trouble when he sometimes allows himself to get surrounded. He also has the commitment to go and win the ball by getting the strong tackles in, although I do think that that is the one area he has to be careful with!
Every team needs a consistant passer like him the next player to come into his role will, undoubtedly, have huge shoes to fill! Lets hope they are up for the challenge.
