Murphy takes Fulham responsibility

Published Dec. 14, 2009 8:25 p.m. ET

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Roy Hodgson's side take on Basel on Wednesday in a win-or-bust game to progress out of Group E. Some believe the Cottagers could already be through now if it had not been for referee Paul Allaerts' harsh decision to send off Stephen Kelly in Fulham's meeting with Roma. But Murphy refuses to play the blame game, believing if Fulham fail to qualify, it will have been because they were not good enough. He insists decisions go both for and against teams - pointing out he would never have won his FA Cup medal with Liverpool in 2001 against Arsenal if it had not been for a blunder by an official - and as a footballer, he has to take the rough with the smooth. Murphy told the News of the World: "That's football. There are thousands upon thousands of Irish people still reeling from the World Cup play-offs but these things happen. "I won an FA Cup medal when Stephane Henchoz handballed on the line and Michael Owen scored two in the last 10 minutes. "If Henchoz hadn't have done that Arsenal would have probably been 2-0 up and the game would have been out of reach for us. "So what am I going to do, give that medal back? Football is like that and I wouldn't change it. "The referee was bad for us against Roma. We were winning 1-0 and cruising but in Europe it's easy to get sent off for a nothing challenge so you have to be clever. "We can't blame anyone and you can't pinpoint one moment. If we qualify we've been good enough to and if we don't we haven't. "We drew in Sofia and should have won that game and we didn't hold on to our lead at home against Roma." But Murphy is confident ahead of the clash in Switzerland after the Cottagers beat Basel 1-0 at Craven Cottage. He added: "I thought they were decent. I wouldn't say I was overly impressed, though. "We had half a team out when we played them and they certainly don't put the fear of God in us. "The problem is that they don't have the class or the quality that Roma have got in the likes of (Francesco) Totti or Daniele De Rossi in midfield. "Basel have good players but I wouldn't say they're world beaters, far from it. We don't fear them but we'll respect them because they did cause us a few little problems last time."