Mercurial magicians underachievers X1

paulhackett

voiced by strother martin

Aug 8, 2009

ericjarvis said:
Danny Murphy was that good. Ask anyone who saw him playing for Crewe. He's a good pro. He had the talent to be an all time great.

I'm not doubting you.. I only ever saw him once he got to Liverpool. Do you think Houlliers management or the rise of Gerrard played a part - he seems a level-headed person, but a lot of players struggle at 'big' clubs, and it's the psychology rather than the skill level - Gerrard for example is accused of not playing for country as he plays for club, would Le Tissier have been as good at a 'big' club etc./

rosa

anger is an energy

Aug 8, 2009

agricola said:
billy kenny was a amazingly talented youth, man of the match (at 19) in the first merseyside derby of the Premiership era... but developed a coke habit, was sacked by us and then oldham, played his last match at 22.

Yeah i was gonna say him. Could have been an amazing player but chucked it away,there's a quote from Mark Ward about him in FourFourTwo: "We found him in the dressing room on Monday,stripped naked with a hard-on. He didn't know where the fuck he was."

ericjarvis

give a feck for the feckless

Aug 8, 2009

paulhackett66 said:
I'm not doubting you.. I only ever saw him once he got to Liverpool. Do you think Houlliers management or the rise of Gerrard played a part - he seems a level-headed person, but a lot of players struggle at 'big' clubs, and it's the psychology rather than the skill level - Gerrard for example is accused of not playing for country as he plays for club, would Le Tissier have been as good at a 'big' club etc./

So far as I could see Liverpool tried to turn him into a wide player, or an all round midfielder. What Murphy was exceptional at was the defence splitting pass from a few yards outside the penalty box. In the England youth set up his job was to find space and if anyone managed to get the ball to him, put a quick pass through for Michael Owen to run on to. As a pair they were absolutely fantastic. He never got to try that role at Liverpool. He's an adequate wide player, he's a competent central midfielder. He's a genius playmaker or attacking midfielder.