And the Blues boss tasked the in-form winger with taking the occasion in his stride, as he prepared for his Oxford United reunion.
Murphy left the Kassam Stadium this summer, after firing the U’s to the Championship with a two-goal salvo in their play-off final win over Bolton.
That came after an outstanding campaign with the 29-year-old a standout player, as he bagged 10 goals and helped Des Buckingham’s side to success.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for Murphy at the Kassam Stadium, however, with supporters nonplussed about his displays a year ago, while the former Cardiff man was criticised by some for turning down a new deal and leaving for Pompey.
After recovering from an ankle injury, Murphy has impressed amid four outings with Mousinho clear about how he believes one of his key summer additions has caught the eye.
He said: ‘Josh was our best player at Stoke. I took him off at 6-1 because I thought we needed to protect.
‘I do think we can look at his performance as a positive, it was the only one on Wednesday.
‘I thought Murph was a constant threat and set the goal up brilliantly on the counter-attack.
‘I’m really pleased with his contribution, but we have to be careful with him and make sure we don’t flog him to death.
‘I think he’ll be keen to impress and keen to have an impact on the game against Oxford.
‘We want to make sure the players don’t get carried away with the occasion – Murph in particular.
‘It’s another game and he has to make sure he doesn’t try to hard to do everything, just play his normal game.
‘I think he’s been our most threatening player.
‘There’s a reason we took him off at Stoke to protect him and there’s a reason he’s played every game since he’s been back.
‘He was excellent in pre-season and we’ve missed him when he was out.
‘We have to get to the stage, though,where we’re not talking about one player being our threat, we need many others to step up.’
For More Stories Like This, Please Check Our Home Page
Be the first to comment