Allardyce hits back at Murphy

Sam Allardyce has challenged Danny Murphy to be "man enough" to publicly apologise for his claims that players are being injured because certain managers are sending their teams out too fired up.

Fulham skipper Murphy singled out Blackburn, Stoke and Wolves - a move that has provoked fury among players and management at Ewood Park - and said some players had "no brains" in the challenges they were making.

The Blackburn manager called on Murphy to apologise, insisting: "If he's man enough, that's what he should do."

Blackburn have produced a raft of statistics to prove they are not a dirty side - they currently have the fourth-best disciplinary record in the Premier League with 11 cautions and no red cards this season, better than both Fulham and Arsenal.

Rovers have only had one player sent off all year, no players were suspended for five or more bookings last season, and their disciplinary record has improved hugely since Allardyce took over.

He added: "The allegation made by Danny Murphy was totally and utterly wrong as you can see by the facts we have given out.

"We are not dirty and we never go out to injure a player; I never send a player out to injure a player on the opposite side, we are too professional for that.

"In the disciplinary league table we are fourth, that's how good we are. People like Danny Murphy are giving a perception that's not true and I hate perception. There is far too much of it in the game, we should stick to reality.

"I was very, very angry indeed when I saw it. The players are very angry - was it brainless or mindless he said? An outrageous statement to make. They are very angry about that.

"We don't want any backlash from those suggestions, from people's perception that we are a dirty side."