Keegan fines Tiatto for 'disgusting' tackle

Manchester City boss Kevin Keegan admitted he was ‘disgusted’ by Danny Tiatto’s horrendous red-card challenge on David Thompson against Blackburn at Maine Road this afternoon.

The Australian midfielder had only been on the field six minutes when he launched into Rovers goalscorer with a vicious two-footed lunge which caught his opponent on the inner thigh as he was sliding in to make a tackle.

With his team 2-0 down, Keegan had sent Tiatto on along with Shaun Goater to try to change the course of the game. But while Goater achieved his objective by grabbing an unlikely equaliser in a thrilling contest, Tiatto will be fined the maximum two weeks’ wages and left the ground with his manager’s stinging condemnation ringing in his ears.

“It was disgusting,” he said. “I can’t abide people going on with an attitude like that.

“Tiatto will be fined the maximum I can. It was stupid and I won’t put up with it.

“Those sort of players are no good to anybody. It was a bad tackle and it had been against one of my players I would have been livid.

“It was so unprofessional and as far as I am concerned he wasn’t here today - and I have told him so.”

After confirmation of Richard Dunne’s immediate suspension for a breach of club discipline, it was a double dose of bad news for Keegan to reflect on after an amazing game which saw his team fight back from the dead.

Tiatto’s departure was City’s third red card in as many games and the fourth of his Maine Road career, yet despite the almost impossible situation, Keegan’s team found an inner strength.

Nicolas Anelka scored 11 minutes from time and Blackburn buckled again as the game entered stoppage time, Goater’s first-time strike from Sylvain Distin’s pull-back looping in off Lucas Neill and Brad Friedel.

“Apart from two or three outstanding individual performances, we weren’t playing well as a team, so the character we showed to pull back was impressive,” said Keegan.

“The contrast between the attitudes of Shaun Goater and Danny Tiatto couldn’t have been more marked.

“Shaun has more of a case for being annoyed than Danny but he came on with a positive approach, which is exactly what I expected.

“We are shooting ourselves in the foot with silly mistakes but the great thing about most of them is their commitment. This is the place to be for action, that’s for sure.”

Not surprisingly, Graeme Souness did not share Keegan’s enthusiasm for the entertainment which unfolded in front of his disbelieving eyes.

Thompson had given Rovers the lead when he took advantage of a slack Marc-Vivien Foe pass and drilled a 20-yard shot past Peter Schmeichel.

Then Shaun Wright-Phillips presented Craig Short with the opportunity to launch another Blackburn attacking raid, which ended with Andy Cole firing home his first of the season.

It proved to be Cole’s final involvement as he went off with a hamstring strain but from that position, Souness was left visibly annoyed that his team failed to collect three points and pointed an accusing finger at some un-named underachievers.

“It wasn’t brilliance by them, it was dopiness by us,” he said.

“It is hard to find anything to smile about because we have just blown three points.

“We could easily have avoided giving those goals away. The vast majority of my players give 110% every time they go out. One or two of them didn’t do that today.

“We found ourselves 2-0 up with 15 minutes to go against a team with 10 men. It should have been a case of them chasing the ball around. Instead they started to get efforts on our goal.

“I find it amazing that we have team meetings when you are looking for feedback from your players. When you talk to them you think ‘Maybe some of them know something about the game’. Then you look at that and think otherwise.”