Murphy happy to prove his point

Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy believes he has “proved people wrong” after responding well to being dropped by manager Gerard Houllier.

Murphy marked his return with the winning goal last weekend at Manchester United, the third time in the last four seasons he has scored Liverpool’s winner at Old Trafford.

But Murphy made it clear being left out of the Liverpool first team has hurt.

In the week Houllier insisted Murphy has a long-term future at Anfield, the midfielder believes he has made his point.

Murphy said: “It has been a difficult season for me to be honest after the last one. It is difficult when you go through that and it makes days like last Saturday even more special.

“I had not played for the last five or six games which was really disappointing for me, because the last three years I have been used to playing so much.”

Murphy has started only eight of Liverpool’s last 21 matches and had found himself the odd one out in midfield as Houllier has searched for more creativity.

With Steven Gerrard, Harry Kewell and Dietmar Hamann regulars in the middle, Houllier has tried Anthony Le Tallec, Bruno Cheyrou, El Hadji Diouf and Vladimir Smicer ahead of Murphy.

But the tough-tackling, hard-working England international now believes he has made his point.

He said: “It was something I had to live with and get on with it and do things the right way. There’s no point moaning about it. You just get on with it. I hope with my performance at Old Trafford I have proved a few people wrong for leaving me out.

“I do not expect to be picked every time, but obviously I want to be involved in most of the matches.”

It looks like Murphy will keep the penalty-taking role as long as he stays in the side for the final three games of the season, starting on Sunday at home to Middlesbrough.

Michael Owen, Gerrard, Diouf and Emile Heskey have all missed spot kicks this term, and Murphy seems happy to continue with the job.

He said: “I have always taken the penalties every time I have played. I said to Michael Owen before the game if we get a penalty did he fancy it? He said ‘no you are welcome to it’, and it worked out well so I was delighted.”