Steve Finnan, who in the latest edition of Fultime gets into John Collins’ best XI, has put in a string of impressive performances this season. We caught up with him as he prepares for Saturday’s match against Sheffield Wednesday.
Speaking on the draw up at Wolves last Saturday Finnan acknowledged that we should have got all three points:
“In the second-half. I think we deserved the three points. It was a tough game and you could see that they were delighted with the point but we’re going to get games like that, where teams will raise their performance. Although we deserved the three points, a draw wasn’t a bad result up there.”
One of the most controversial moments of the game at Molineux was Barry Hayles’ penalty appeal. Finnan was convinced that Fulham should have been awarded a spot kick:
“It definitely looked a penalty, Baz went down and I think the players’ reaction showed that it was a penalty. We weren’t too happy with the referee on the day, a lot of challenges went unpunished. Things like that do turn a game and we’re sure it was a penalty.”
Having had a penalty appeal turned down, it was Finnan who then came closest to scoring with a delightful chip:
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| Steve Finnan confident of Fulham's future |
“A few of the lads said I tried to cross it” Said Finnan laughing. “I thought it was going in, a couple of inches lower and I would have been off to the fans. And it was a genuine attempt on goal”
Reflecting back on our first defeat of the season against Preston, Finnan echoed the team’s disappointment in losing, especially to such a careless goal:
“We know it was a sloppy goal and were very disappointed in that. The football wasn’t as fluent as we have been playing, I suppose that was also shown at Wolves where we didn’t pass the ball well – I think we continued that against Preston.
I think we’ve just got to go back to basics like before, which was just to pass and move. We need more one and two-touch football instead of holding on to the ball. Then we should create more chances and get back on our winning run.”
As a result of the defeat, Watford managed to move up to first place. However, Finnan takes a positive view of this and hopes to take advantage of the situation.
“It’s taken a bit of pressure off us with Watford going top and the record going, now it’s just up to us to get as many points as possible. We were so confident going into games that we just thought we were going to get the three points automatically, I suppose we got a kick up the backside in the last couple of games. It’s good that the games are coming round the corner fast so we can, hopefully, get back to winning ways.”
Looking ahead to Saturday’s match, Finnan sized up our opponents: “A lot of the lads have played up there. It’s a big, wide pitch and although they haven’t been attracting too many fans lately – they’ve won their last two games. They’ve stopped their run and so have we in a way. It’s a good pitch to go and play on so hopefully we should get back to winning ways again.”
Manager Jean Tigana is not expected to have any injury problems for Saturday. John Collins may start after being rested for the first-half of the match against Preston.