The Cottagers’ veteran had a mixed outing against Tottenham in a 1-1 draw at the weekend.
Cairney scored for his team, but was also sent off for a rash challenge in a 20-minute cameo.
"If I didn’t get sent off we could of got even more from the game so I take responsibility for that, I didn’t try and hurt the player in any way but I can understand how bad pictures can look when you slow them down with VAR but the boys dug in and got a well earned point," Cairney said on X.
"Firstly, I know him," manager Marco Silva said.
"Tom Cairney is not the player for that, everybody knows. I have to be realistic and honest with you, everybody knows I am the first one asking him to be more aggressive in the right way, to keep some principles as a midfielder in that situation, but he is not the type of player to do that type of thing.
"He stamped on his leg and, of course, looking through the images it should be a red card and we have to accept it, knowing that Tom Cairney was really unlucky because he is not that type of player."
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