Forget Giggs, Murphy’s the man

Ryan Giggs might have won the PFA Player of the Year award this season, but one man who has had his best ever campaign and not been awarded the praise he deserves is Danny Murphy.

Giggs controversially edged out Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Edwin van der Sar, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Steven Gerrard to the top gong but the Fulham man has been on a par with the big names, if not better.

Murphy has continued where he left off last season and been a major contributing factor in Fulham’s amazing seventh-placed finish.

Cast your minds back 12 months ago and it was Murphy who scored a vital header which earned Fulham a 1-0 win over Portsmouth and kept the Cottagers in the top flight and this term the 32-year-old has been immense.

He has been an ever-present for Fulham in the Premier League, scoring five times - for what can only be described as the most improved team around.

Murphy has been Roy Hodgson’s midfield kingpin - driving the cottagers forward and he is the one that Fulham look towards to dictate the pace of the game.

But the former Liverpool star, who is in the form of his life, is not only Fulham’s metronome, he also works like a Trojan breaking up the opposition’s attack.

The Cheshire-born star loves to ‘get his foot in’ and he is widely regarded as one of the best passers of a football in the country.

Fulham chief Hodgson picked Murphy up in August 2007 from Spurs for an undisclosed fee and he can’t have made too many better signings.

Murphy has bounced back from indifferent spells with Charlton and Tottenham but he’s been worth his weight in gold and only the sublime talent of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard have limited Murphy’s England caps to just nine and for my money he should have been on the short-list for the top gong.