Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has criticised the “disgraceful” tackle from Ross County captain Andrew Davies on Scott Brown that saw the Dingwall player shown a straight red-card yesterday afternoon.
Describing the tackle as one of the worst he has seen in his time in Scotland, Rodgers was scathing of the player’s part in stamping on Brown. With the Hoops captain on the deck following a foul from Billy McKay, Davies appeared to lunge into Brown, quite clearly leaving his boot at the very top of the player’s thigh.
And citing the two-match ban handed out to Celtic defender Jozo Simunovic following his dismissal at Ibrox, Rodgers queried the punishment that ought to subsequently befall Davies.
“There is no doubt the challenge on him today was disgraceful,” said the Celtic manager of the 40th minute incident.
“We’ve seen a lot of challenges where there’s question marks over them, but that there today was one of the worst I’ve seen since I’ve been up here.
“There’s no intent to play the ball there. That was a really dangerous challenge - and only someone of that toughness and robustness could get up and play on.”
Rodgers was also defensive of Brown’s ow style of play, maintaining that while the midfielder plays aggressively he remains within the lawful parameters of the game.
“He's aggressive of course, but he's fair and he's honest,” he said. “He's a guy that plays with an authority and an aggression.
“We want to have eleven players on the pitch but it's always controlled. There's one or two maybe trying to make a name for themselves by obviously trying to put those sort of tackles in.
“But he's unique – he's absolutely brilliant for us. He eventually got up and got on the with the game and controlled it.
“I feel sorry for the Ross County staff trying to take this team and keep them in the league and I feel for the supporters travelling all the way down.
““You’ve got your captain, who has probably got his most important game on Tuesday night, and makes a really poor challenge. If you watch it again, it’s really poor.
“Jozo Simunovic gets two games for a slight elbow so I don’t know what that will be.
“You feel for the staff and supporters and the players losing their captain to a really bad challenge.”
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