It would be fair to say Bristol City supporters have seen less of Adam Murphy than they may have expected over the last 13 months, but Tuesday afternoon saw the midfielder start and play 73 minutes for the Reds’ Under-21s against Cardiff City.
The teenager made the move to Ashton Gate in January 2024, joining the Robins on a permanent basis from St Patrick’s Athletic. While his signature was greeted with plenty of excitement, he is yet to make an appearance in a first-team matchday squad with injury issues holding him back.
But as he works to build up his fitness and match minutes, those in attendance at the Robins High Performance Centre got a taste of what the Irishman could offer in the future as the Young Robins drew 1-1 with the Bluebirds. Joseph James had managed to nod City into an early lead but Roko Simic ensured the points were shared when he beat Stefan Bajic in the Reds’ net in the second half.
While it is always tough to gauge just how much you can learn from these Professional Development League games, here’s how we thought Murphy fared against Cardiff at the HPC…
Happy to get stuck in
The standard of these professional Development League matches that the Young Robins play can vary massively from week to week. Because teams occasionally field sides with senior players, you never quite know what sort of opposition is going to arrive at the High Performance Centre.
What does tend to stand out in these sorts of matches however is when a player has played senior football. Often, those with first-team experience will cope with the physical side of the game better, be stronger out of possession and generally get the better of the opposition in their duels.
Adam Muphy may not have yet played any Championship football, but he does have top-flight experience in Ireland with St Patrick’s Athletic and it showed at times on Tuesday. Twice in the space of 10 minutes in the first half against Cardiff City, he snapped into a tackle and got the better of his midfield counterpart to win back possession before getting an attack underway.
Then, moments later when the the Bluebirds broke into the Robins’ penalty area, he went to the ground and forced a corner with a perfectly timed sliding challenge. Of course, it is much easier to throw your weight around at youth level than it is in the Championship so only time will tell if Murphy is capable of making that step up.
But it is certainly a positive sign that the teenager didn’t get thrown about by the Cardiff midfield at the HPC. He may not be the tallest midfielder, but he wasn’t afraid to get stuck in.
Comfortable keeping it simple
While Bristol City supporters have seen little of Adam Murphy in Robins colours, the main highlight most will have at least viewed at a glance was a long-range screamer he scored for the Under-21s against Fleetwood Town at Ashton Gate last season, that was shared on social media.
There were no such fireworks from the teenager against Cardiff on Tuesday afternoon as he instead tended to keep it simple in possession. In a fashion not too dissimilar to that of Jason Knight, he never spent too long on the ball and did what he could to keep it moving with short, simple passes to control the tempo and keep the Bluebirds moving.
The fact he started at the base of midfield probably limited his involvement going forward. Most of his touches came in the middle third of the pitch and on a couple of occasions he did well to dribble out of tight areas, under pressure before passing to someone nearby. In one instance in particular, that kickstarted an attack as he quickly got his head up and looked to pass forward wherever possible.
Supporters in attendance didn’t see a midfielder playing the sort of passes Max Bird or Scott Twine have made their bread and butter so far this season. They did, however, see someone who looked after the ball sensibly while also attempting to play with intent.
Murphy’s display in possession will by no means have those who saw him in action immediately demanding he be thrown into Liam Manning’s squad. He isn’t quite at that level yet but at just 19, he seems to have the skills required to grow into a Championship footballer in the future.
Vocal in the middle of the park
One of the benefits of watching games at the Robins High Performance Centre is the lack of noise in and around the pitch. While a handful of supporters and family members do attend Under-21’s matches, it isn’t at all comparable to the crowds seen at Ashton Gate and as a result, there is an awful lot less noise.
Anyone who ever saw Kal Naismith feature in a pre-season game or Under-21s matches will be able to attest to this. Often, the defender’s Scottish voice could be hard directing and conducting players all over the pitch as he bellowed instructions and almost served as an on-the-field assistant manager.
It would be an exaggeration to suggest that Murphy was quite that loud, but in the second half in particular, the teenager’s voice could be heard regularly. He repeatedly asked for the ball whenever one of the defenders or full-backs had possession and did what he could to aid them vocally when they broke forward.
Of course, the midfielder wasn’t the only player acting in that way but he did stand out at times as one of the loudest voices in City colours, alongside Stefan Bajic. If he wants to play Championship football in the near future, he will need to have that sort of influence on proceedings whether he’s got the ball or not.
Not yet at 90 minutes
Adam Murphy’s biggest challenge since arriving at Ashton Gate has been his fitness. The midfielder travelled with the rest of the Bristol City squad to Portugal for their pre-season camp but has had a stop-start campaign so far, suffering setbacks whenever he has got fit.
The 19-year-old made his latest return last Monday when he started for the Under-21s in their 3-0 win over Colchester United at Ashton Gate. He only played 45 minutes before being withdrawn at half-time and Liam Manning admitted City were aiming to build up the teenager’s minutes.
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“Very much that. He’s training with the 21s to be fair to build up his loading,” the Reds head coach told Bristol Live last week. “He obviously missed, in the last year or so, a large amount of football.
“So again, I think for him it’s just a case of continually building up training and getting confidence back in his body.”
While it is only a small step in the right direction, Murphy managed to get through 73 minutes of action against Cardiff City on Tuesday afternoon before he was replaced by Ruebin Sheppard for the final quarter of an hour. The midfielder’s substitution didn’t appear to be a result of any injury whatsoever as he jogged over to the bench with an ease that suggested the change could have been pre-planned.
Of course, the true test will be whether or not the former St Patrick’s Athletic youngster can put together a run of 90 minute showings week in and week out without picking up another issue. However, you would hope that getting through two matches in the space of eight days unscathed would be a slight boost to Murphy’s confidence, in the short term at least.
While he isn’t able to get through a full game for the Young Robins though, it seems unlikely that he will be forcing his way into Manning’s first-team thoughts. The City head coach did admit in January that we might not see Murphy play Championship football until next season and at this stage, that seems like the right course of action for all involved.