FA Cup - Murphy: Final still special

Eurosport - Fri, 29 May 18:08:00 2009

Fulham captain and Eurosport-Yahoo! blogger Danny Murphy believes Everton will have their work cut out against Chelsea at Wembley.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 Wembley Stadium - 0

I am really looking forward to the FA Cup final. I think it will be a great game.

Having just played Everton, I know they are a good side and well organised, but I still fancy Chelsea.

For me, they have a wonderful mix of talent and physical strength and in the big games they perform. I don't see Everton having enough to win unless they hold out for a draw and go to penalties.

If you look at both sides, Chelsea have more match winners - Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and Nicolas Anelka are some of the best around when they are on form.

For Everton, Louis Saha has had injury problems and I think they will miss him. To me, Tim Cahill is their key player for this game. I've also been really impressed with Steven Pienaar - he is wonderful. When he is playing well and scoring, they seem to be a better team. Leon Osman is another stand-out from their team.

I think they will miss Mikel Arteta's craft because against the top four you need that extra bit of quality, and of course Phil Jagielka, who has probably been their best player this season.

For Everton to beat Chelsea they will have to have their full team and the fact they are missing two crucial players pushes the title towards the Londoners.

The managers have both done a good a job, David Moyes in particular has been fantastic. Everton have progressed each year, which is all the more impressive given their relatively small squad budget.

They play good football, work hard, have some flair - a bit of everything really, and I think David deserves great credit for putting that squad together. I think similar credit is due to our manager, and it should be between David and Roy Hodgson for the manager of the year award.

Obviously Hiddink has done a great job settling the ship at Chelsea, but his job was made slightly easier as he inherited one of the best squads in European football.

But he has given them the confidence to go out and win games rather than building a squad from scratch. It is not fair to compare what he has done to Moyes's achievements. David's work at Everton has been a long process and he deserves all the credit for that.

I think what makes the FA Cup final special is the English public and the players who grew up here know what it means - the nostalgia, tradition and wonderful memories for every player. Everyone looks back to the Cup finals and watches the games with the family and it is just the one competition where the guys can play such variety of clubs.

The rags-to-riches stories that you get in the FA Cup also make it unique. To play in it and win it, as I did with Liverpool, was very special and one of the best memories of football I will ever have. I treasure the medal.

Though, to be honest, it probably comes second to my UEFA Cup medal, but only because it was a bit harder to get back then. We played the likes of Roma, Barcelona and Porto. With teams like that we had to put together lots of consistent performances whereas the FA Cup you can have a little bit of luck in the draw and the run to the final, so it isn't quite the same. But it still means a huge amount to me.

I would love to have the opportunity to play in the final again as the experience of the day will live with me for a very long time. The guys playing in it next week will relish it in the same way. Looking at how many people watch it around the world shows it is still a great competition that we all enjoy.

Danny Murphy / Eurosport

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  1. I AM A EVERTON FAN AND WE A AT WEMBLEY I HATE CHELSEA­ COME ON EVERTON 4-2 TO EVETON CHELSEA VS EVERTON

    From tandsparry, on Sat 30 May 3:51PM

  2. Danny , if you ever come across Paul Parker in the­ Eurosport offices would you ever tell him to consider­ a career change?? He talks more @#$% than the biased­ Man utd and Liverpool "supporters" that­ frequent these pages!!

    From puff the magic tampon, on Sat 30 May 11:16AM

  3. lets hope they put on a better display than that­ pathetic display by united an embarrasment to the epl

    From rawest1, on Fri 29 May 7:34PM

  4. i like that bit when they say the chelsea stars are on­ form, im united fan and im backing everton. everton­ will be the best team on the day just watch them play­ there hearts out at wembley. good luck to everton

    From Chris, on Fri 29 May 7:12PM

  5. to all the liverpool fans writing in saying good luck­ to everton. why? earlier on in the season when everton­ put us out of the cup (and righly so they where by far­ the better team) they where slaughtering us. again­ which is fine we would and have done the same. but to­ support them in the final and hope they win i think­ it`s stupid. if everton do win the cup (god forbid)­ they will be having a go at the liverpool fans for­ months on end, you will never hear the last of it.­ again a few of my friends are everton fans and i don`t­ hate the everton people just there club. do you­ liverpool fans think for one minute everton fans would­ support liverpool if we were in a final.
    i remember the­ ac milan final twice, and the manchester finals when­ everton fans where supporting them.

    From LFC - REAL EUROPEAN LEGENDS., on Fri 29 May 5:24PM

  6. Come on Everton; we are waititng to salute you for a­ job you will hopeful do very well. Just as I had hoped­ in the Man U vs Barca match, I hope you confound any­ sceptics with a well earned win. Of course you will­ have to reckon with the nefarious behaviour of the­ whining diver, Drogba, as well as that bully called­ Michael Ballack, but I hope you stand your ground. Your­ opponents have some really good players, Lampard,­ Essien, Anelka, Kalou,but I hope all luck smiles on you­ and you will smile all the way to the bank. For the­ record, I am a Liverpool fan

    From Wellington, on Fri 29 May 2:53PM

  7. As a UTD fan i'm rooting for Everton. At least this­ Merseyside team has a chance of winning some­ silverwear!

    From Stina, on Fri 29 May 2:53PM

  8. Come on Everton; we are waititng to salute you for a­ job you will hopeful do very well. Just as I had hoped­ in the Man U vs Barca match, I hope you confound any­ sceptics with a well earned win. Of course you will­ have to reckon with the nefarious behaviour of the­ whining diver, Drogba, as well as that bully called­ Michael Ballack, but I hope you stand your ground. Your­ opponents have some really good players, Lampard,­ Essien, Anelka, Kalou,but I hope all luck smiles on you­ and you will smile all the way to the bank. For the­ record, I am a Liverpool fan

    From Wellington, on Fri 29 May 2:42PM

  9. It's just another trophy, there's nothing­ special about it.

    From Jake N, on Fri 29 May 1:52PM

  10. This is the first time I am supportin EVERTON! Arsenal­ fan

    From shane, on Fri 29 May 12:37PM

  11. I hate chelsea with a passion can all the magic go to­ Everton.Man United fan through thick and thin.

    From smanyumwa, on Fri 29 May 12:33PM

  12. comment no:4 xxxdjmxxx thanks for the support from the­ red half of the city, at least we can show the­ manc's how 2 true teams from same city dont show­ the normal hatred for each other like they do, just­ need to correct you on one point you made in your­ comment, i think if you remember rightly it was us who­ knocked you out of the cup, not chealsea, and yes i­ think it will be a good game as both P/L games this­ season were 0-0 so makes interesting stats for the­ game. nothing is a 'cert' in football, it­ depends how the teams perform on the day ( as was shown­ in rome the other night). i wish both teams a great day­ to remember and as i've said since the 3rd round­ our name is on the cup this year, lets hope i'm­ right. COYB's

    From gonkerman, on Fri 29 May 12:22PM
  13. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    I hope Chelsea win the F A Cup. Everton and their sorry­ looking fans are closet Manure Utd supporters,also­
    Moyes is an arrogant @#$% .

    John Bren

    From john, on Fri 29 May 11:37AM
  14. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Steady on, I don't think you can say before a game­ that one side deserves it! I'll be rooting for­ Everton (Liverpool fan) but the team that 'deserves­ it' is the one that scores the most­ goals/penalties, nothing else!

    I do feel, however,­ that on this occasion Chelsea will prove too strong for­ Everton, however well they may play. Unless Chelsea­ have a shocker and Everton capitalise, I think we all­ know which way this match will turn out.

    From AR WB, on Fri 29 May 11:08AM

  15. This promises to be a good final and, boy, we need one­ because the last few of been drab affairs. This could­ be closer than some people think as Everton are a very­ organised team and they nearly did Chelsea at Stamford­ Bridge this season. Without doubt though the Londoners­ start as favourites but it is the cup, and look at what­ happened mid-week! All the pundits went for Man U and­ they just didn't turn up, so you never know.

    One­ final point, I would like to see an Everton win just to­ mix things up in the English game. And also there­ would be a certain irony to all those crowing Liverpool­ fans basking in Man U's defeat if the ONLY trophy­ to go anywhere near Merseyside went to EVERTON! Go­ Toffees!!

    From neiljburrows58, on Fri 29 May 10:44AM

  16. Finally, an article where you dont mention Fulham.­ Congratulations your getting the hang of this blog­ thing now.

    From Strail, on Fri 29 May 10:36AM

  17. I support Everton and i cannot wait till this final.
    I­ would like to stay thank you to all the Liverpool fans­ who have written to incourage us despite us being­ rivals were do get on and we are sick and tired of­ being called dirty scousers by other team fans.
    Good­ luck to Chelsea too and i hope Osam is playing like he­ did against Fulham but watch out Chelsea pride makes a­ team not money you look at Manchester United they gave­ up whe the were losing by two against Barcelona as the­ spanish team have pure determination expectly against­ Chelsea even though the ref was dodgy they kept on­ attacking.

    From The Top Fan, on Fri 29 May 10:14AM

  18. murphy is objective and fair to the two sides. fans of­ both teams could read his write-up and feel the truism­ and objectivity in his thought. PARKER is a DEVIL when­ writing for eurosport

    From papaogos, on Fri 29 May 10:13AM
  19. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    With all due respect to David Moyes, I feel chelseafc­ deserves to win the title. They have struggled through­ out the season and it will be such a great pleasure for­ them to win. And of coursethey are londoners as well.­ It will be a wonderful game to watch as most of chelsea­ vs everton games this season has ended in nil nil . I­ want chelsea to win but everton will push hard.­ Moreover, the disappointment of not getting into the­ final of eufa champions league is soo painful­ especially seeing barca win it. This for chelsea wiil­ the final of the season.

    From Richmond, on Fri 29 May 9:52AM

  20. Moyes, Cahill and co. Go to Wembley lift the trophy and­ bring it back to Merseyside where it belongs!

    The Red­ side are cheering for you tomorrow!

    From dsp4xg, on Fri 29 May 9:47AM
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