I asked them to be aggressive- Barry Ferguson responds to Giakoumakis claim

Barry Ferguson has defended his players strong-arm tactics against Celtic in the Scottish Cup. 

Three Celtic players had to be replaced due to injuries with Stephen Welsh close to joining them following a brutal attack from Conor Sammon. 

Giorgos Giakoumakis opened the scoring for Celtic but after the match he highlighted the dangerous style of play from their opponents. 

Ange Postecoglou will be counting the cost as he prepares his squad to face Hearts on Wednesday with his midfield options severely limited. 

Speaking on the Go Football Show tonight, Ferguson said: 

I was disappointed to read that, to be honest. One thing about my players is they are 100% committed. They don’t go out to hurt fellow professionals. I asked them before the game to be aggressive and get in Celtic’s faces to make it uncomfortable for them. 

But in terms of asking to go out and hurt players, that’s not in my makeup. If I thought any of my players were up to no good, they wouldn’t be in my team. So I was a bit disappointed to read those comments from Giakoumakis. 

Don Robertson was Saturday’s referee, last month he allowed Calum Butcher away with a yellow card for a brutal attack on David Turnbull that the SFA upgraded to red with a three match suspension. 

With Callum McGregor and Yosuke Ideguchi both likely to be sidelined for the match against Hearts Postecoglou may have to hand a debut to Matt O’Riley.