Strachan takes heat out of Killie clash

Strachan tackle happy

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ON THE PULL: Gordon Strachan lends a helping hand during training ahead of tonight’s match with Kilmarnock.

CELTIC boss Gordon Strachan has moved to take the heat out of tonight’s fiery Premier League clash with Kilmarnock at Parkhead.

After their 3-1 win in their Co-operative Insurance Cup quarter-final against Killie at Rugby Park a fortnight ago, the Hoops camp raged at the treatment of midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura, who had to come off injured at the break.

Midfielder Scott Brown claimed some of the tackles perpetrated on the Japan international were “ridiculous”.

Kilmarnock’s assistant manager Billy Brown then hit back at the champions, saying: “It seems to me they are never happy.

“They have all the money, get all the best players and win trophies as well.

“Now they don’t even want us to tackle them. Are we supposed to sit back and allow them to walk all over us?”

But Strachan tried to put his assessment of the game into perspective.

“I’ve said before that part of your job as a footballer is to take a tackle,” he said.

“If you’re small and skilful, sometimes you can get injured but you have to be prepared to take a tackle.

“My view hasn’t changed. For over 100 years, people have been taking hard tackles. I have no problem with that.

“After the last Killie game, I said we took a few hard tackles. At no time did I say they were illegal.

“I tell my players to deal with it and, if the tackles are illegal, I expect the referee to look after it.”

Strachan, who is hoping at least one of a dozen injured players will be fit to return to first team action, is taking nothing for granted.

“It’s another game and another team that we have to beat,” he said.

“It’s a team coming to cause us problems and we’ll do our homework on them.