Hearts bemoan ‘stupidity’ of Rossi
ROBBIE NEILSON has told his Hearts players to wisen up quickly after Igor Rossi became the fifth player from the Tynecastle side to be sent off this season. The Brazilian full-back was ordered off by referee Bobby Madden in yesterday’s goalless draw at Hamilton for a lunge at Darren Lyon, with Accies’ Jesus Garcia Tena also the recipient of a late red card. Rossi’s ill-discipline was later branded ‘stupid’ by skipper Alim Ozturk as Hearts’ hopes of keeping
pace with second-placed Aberdeen took a hit. Neilson recently refuted suggestions his side were overly physical but after watching Rossi join Juanma, Juwon Oshaniwa, Blazej Augustyn and Gavin Reilly on the list of dismissals this term, he conceded that his signings had to quickly get to grips with what’s permissible in the Scottish game. ‘It’s boys coming over to this country not knowing the environment and how things are dealt with,’ he said. ‘What you can get away with and what you can’t. ‘We got a boy sent off against St Johnstone (Juanma) but if you do that in Greece or in Spain, no one cares. You just get on with it. ‘Whereas here, if someone goes
down you get a red card. They have to learn to adapt to the style. ‘Today, he’s gone in with two feet and it’s happened very quickly.’ Unlike Callum Paterson’s dismissal at the same ground in August — a decision that was later downgraded to a booking — Neilson had no issue with Madden’s call yesterday. ‘It was the right decision, he went in with his two feet,’ he said. ‘If you go in with two feet, it’s a red card, end of story. He’s going to miss next week (Inverness away) and he only has himself to blame.’ Hamilton’s Darian Mackinnon was booked for mouthing off to Madden before the first red card was brandished and was substituted at the break by Martin Canning for his own good. TV footage appeared to show Neilson attempting to remonstrate with the Accies player in the tunnel at half-time but the Hearts boss played that down. ‘I didn’t have a word with him,’ he insisted. ‘There was a set-to (on the pitch at the sending-off) but that’s the way you have to play the game.’ Lyon — the player on the receiving end of Rossi’s lunge — insists he was fortunate to escape serious injury. ‘It was a lunge, a clumsy lunge,’ he opined. ‘I just saw his two feet fly into me and tried to avoid it as much as I could. He caught me a bit but if he had caught me cleanly, I would have been out for a while.’ Asked if it could have broken his leg, Lyon replied: ‘If I hadn’t seen it quickly, then probably. It’s up to them (officials) to deal with it.’ Ozturk agreed with Neilson’s view that much of his side’s disciplinary indiscretions were down to naivety. But he refuted suggestions his side were overly aggressive. ‘I agree with the manager that the foreign players have to learn quickly about the Scottish game, because we have got a few red cards,’ he said. ‘Some of them have been stupid and today’s was one of them. ‘People talk about us as a big, physical team but we have some small guys as well. We have a great mix. So I don’t understand why people say we are a big, physical team every time.’ Accies boss Canning admitted that the decision to replace Mackinnon was down to the feeling that a second booking would follow. ‘He got booked in the melee after the sending-off and I just felt it wasn’t a risk worth taking. ‘I felt Hearts would be at him to try to get him booked and sent off.’