The Whites trailed 2-0 at the interval and boss Marcelo Bielsa opted to make a double change during the break having earlier replaced the injured Stuart Dallas with Leo Hjelde in the ninth minute.
Tyler Roberts and Adam Forshaw were brought on as United’s final two substitutes but star man and top scorer Raphinha was one of the players withdrawn along with Mateusz Klich.
Bielsa confirmed afterwards that the substitution of Raphinha was tactical, the head coach wanting to send Roberts upfront and move Dan James from the no 9 role to replace Raphinha on the right wing.
Murphy, though, could not understand the decision and felt Raphinha was causing Jonjoe Kenny issues down that side of the pitch.
“It was a mistake,” said pundit Murphy of the Raphinha change on Match Of The Day.
“He can explain but all right but he was showing and causing Kelly a good few problems.
“Okay, he hadn’t scored or set up a goal but you are 2-0 down in a game and you need your best players.
“Maybe he was setting an example for something or he saw or an incident but I didn’t see enough in that first half performance to warrant him being brought off.
“It was a really strange decision.”
Leeds went on to suffer a 3-0 defeat and failed to land a single shot on target.
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