Much of the criticism has been laid at the door of head coach Rob Penney, who took the reins at the start of the season, with Munster 16 points adrift of the play-off positions in the RaboDirect PRO12.
And while victory in France against the might of Clermont may prove a bridge too far this weekend, Varley is adamant the Irish region have been playing better than many observers believe.
"I actually think we've put in some extremely good performances where we have gotten victories but we haven't got the credit because maybe people have been over-focused on Rob Penney's game plan and people saying that it didn't suit us," he said.
"Before the Harlequins game we had a good Heineken Cup campaign, put ourselves in position to be in the quarter-final and it was only from then on that people rowed in and started to say, 'yes, this is like the Munster of old'."
Guinness PRO12 Munster News
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