Albanians abused protocol, says Kerr

ALBANIA had no case because when Lee Carsley re-started the game with a throw-in the ball was turned all the way back to goalkeeper Shay Given.

He threw it to Stephen Carr and when he launched a long ball from near half-way Gary Doherty won possession to set up the winning goal.

Said Kerr: “We had gone through a series of times where they had a player injured, they kicked the ball out and we give the ball back to them. That only encourages them to have another player injured.

“Is that the way it’s supposed to work until all the time is used up in the game? The more that goes on you are encouraging a team to lie down and when their goalkeeper went down he cost us three or four minutes alone, although in fairness he was injured.

"On the sideline that is the way it appeared to me, that they were abusing that protocol.

“There is also a part of the fair play thing that there has to be a rhythm in the game and if they are consistently disrupting the rhythm of the game by kicking the ball into touch because they’ve a player injured, that’s not the rhythm of the game.”

He made a very relevant point when he said: “Did the five minutes added time reflect the time that was lost in the second half with injuries, the number of substitutions that were in the game?

“I would have thought that it would have been nearer to ten minutes. Mind you, I was quite happy when the whistle went in the end, I wasn’t interested in playing on.

“I thought the goalkeeper’s injury alone cost us three and a half to four minutes. Just that incident alone justified what was added on. Then there were six substitutions and is it not 30 seconds for each substitution?”

Meanwhile, Liverpool will unveil Fulham’s Republic of Ireland defender Steve Finnan as their new signing

today.

“We understand terms have been agreed between the two clubs but Finnan is not a Liverpool player yet. However, we understand the deal should go through tomorrow,” said a club statement.

The fee is reported to be around £4m. Right-back Finnan joined Fulham five years ago from Notts County for £200,000 and made an impression, earning an international call-up.

He was one of Ireland’s best performers in the 2002 World Cup finals. Finnan will link up with former Fulham assistant manager Christian Damiano, who is expected to arrive soon to join Gerard Houllier's backroom staff.

*Bayern Munich are set to spend 15m for Deportivo La Coruna’s Roy Makaay, club president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has revealed.