"I don't think Robbie was daft to run after Rio Ferdinand in the tunnel at all," he said. "
"Maybe those players that ran after the two of them were a bit daft, but all it boiled down to was a few raised voices and that was that.
"Despite all of Robbie's bravado, he is quite a sensitive soul underneath it all. I feel that his reputation is going before him at the moment. Robbie enjoys the stick he gets from the opposition and their fans and all the moaning and groaning that he can create. But my concern at the moment is that, despite being the injured party in many cases recently, he always seems to end up as the guilty party and it is becoming a cheap shot.
"I think he has actually shown admirable self-control and restraint following the treatment he has had recently. Perhaps the reason he stays down sometimes is so that he can count to 10 and clear his head, but he has had a difficult few weeks and I think it has been unjustified."