Murphy stands up to threat of drop

A year on the Wear: Statistics feel too rigid when applied to Daryl Murphy, writes Michael Walker. There is something languid, some might say lackadaisical, about the way the 24-year-old from Waterford strolls through 90 minutes.

But after he displayed a striker's inclination to burst onto Kenwyne Jones's knockdown the other night against Birmingham City, a check of his and Sunderland's records brought a revelation. Of the club's current first-team squad, Murphy is now joint top scorer.

That Murphy's total is a mere 13 midway through his third season on Wearside says something about Sunderland's poverty of performance when he arrived. It also highlights the turnover of personnel since Roy Keane followed Niall Quinn, who followed caretaker Kevin Ball, who followed Howard Wilkinson, who followed the man who signed Murphy, Mick McCarthy.

Another on 13 goals is Dean Whitehead and he is another McCarthy recruit. David Connolly is a third on 13. Connolly, frozen out of the first team this season, got them all in the Championship last season and was top scorer as a result. But on their way up Sunderland shared the goals around.

Murphy got 10 then but his first this season did not arrive until after Christmas. It has been an in-and-out time for him and the presumption was that January would see him depart. Murphy was linked strongly and continually to QPR.

Maybe that prospect, or January itself, focused the mind because against Bolton and Portsmouth and on Tuesday against Birmingham, Murphy has looked a player enthused and determined.

"Over the last three or four weeks Murph has been outstanding," Keane said yesterday. "I had a good chat with him because there had been speculation about him going here, there and everywhere and so we had a talk and I told him he's going nowhere.

"Some players need that, some more than others, just a five-minute chat. We just told him that we're delighted with him. He's a great pro, he trains well, he looks like a footballer, he's a good athlete and he's doing well for us.

"He's a good player and a very good lad. Nearly every manager we've spoken to after games has been asking about him and speaking very highly of him. That's a good sign. That's why we didn't sell him. I'm joking."

There have been times when Keane appeared not to be of this opinion. Murphy shares a gait, a demeanour with Chris Waddle. It infuriated Jack Charlton when he was Waddle's manager at Newcastle because Waddle either looked tired or uninterested or both. For Keane to say that Murphy "looks like a footballer" may sound odd but it is actually quite instructive. He is beginning to stand up.

"I do feel a part of things now," Murphy said yesterday just as Keane was speaking in another room at the snow-stormed training ground. "I was out of the team for a while and sometimes I wasn't in the squad. I've got my head down and that's what the manager wants. I'm feeling the benefit. I'm working hard. I need consistency; that's what the gaffer wants from me.

"It was never the case that I felt established. I had to get my head around it when I came and I had to get up to scratch fitness-wise. It took me a while to settle, to be honest. I played a few games towards the end of the first season and in the second season in the Championship I played quite a few games and scored a few goals. But this was always going to be a big season for me. My form has been up and down but I've hit a bit of form recently."

Just as that happens of course, what does Keane do? He signs Rade Prica, a Swedish striker who can support Jones, and Andy Reid, a left-sided creator. They are the two positions Murphy is fighting to call his own, but if he is annoyed by the signings it was not visible. Far from it: "Healthy competition, it keeps you on your toes. You know you have to perform and if you don't you know there are two more players there waiting to take your place."

Today that could be at Anfield - though Reid is unavailable because of injury. But Prica had a lively debut on Tuesday as a second-half substitute and Murphy is taking nothing for granted. Certainly not a win. Sunderland's dismal away form continued at Tottenham and the omens are not good for Liverpool - they have not won there since the year Murphy was born.

But, he said: "Everyone is buzzing after the Birmingham win; it was a really, really big win for everyone at the club. We have to be winning those games. We can't really afford to slip up, so it is vital. There was pressure on us to win playing at home.

"If we keep our home form going the way we are and get a few away points then we should be safe. I'd take a draw against Liverpool. We're fairly high on confidence.

"We say we're unlucky and things didn't go for us but we shoot ourselves in the foot away from home. In the first 15 minutes, we need to boot the ball away if necessary, not put pressure on ourselves. But we've given away sloppy goals. Then you're trying to get back into games. I hope the new signings will help us rectify that and we can go to Anfield and get something. They are not on a great run themselves."

Lest we get ahead of ourselves, nor are Sunderland. But there is rising belief and the league table does not make Wearside squirm. In part thanks to Daryl Murphy.