It was very sad, if somewhat predictable, to see that Newcastle’s Joey Barton was given a straight red card in their game at Liverpool on Saturday. I wondered if he had been unlucky and that his reputation had led to the referee over-reacting to a fair, hard tackle.
Reckless
I then watched the game and saw the tackle and realised that the referee had indeed had no choice but to send Barton from the field for his reckless, lunging tackle on Xabi Alonso that was lucky not to break the Spaniard’s leg.
We all know the history of Joey Barton and we all know that his reputation is well deserved. The problem is that several managers have given him so many chances to prove that he can control his violent nature and time and time again he has let them down.
Faith
Current boss Alan Shearer turned to the talented and flawed midfielder in Newcastle’s time of need and once again, a manager’s faith and trust was thrown back in their face.
Barton had not played since 28th January because of injury and Shearer must have been pleased to have him back in the fold at this crucial time of the season. His moment of madness means that he will now be suspended for the three final games of the season that will decide whether or not the club stay in the Premier League.
Poor
The fact is that Newcastle were very poor in the 3-0 defeat at Liverpool, but the next games against Middlesbrough, Fulham and Aston Villa are all winnable, particularly the first two, and they probably will need to win two of them.
Shearer was absolutely seething with Barton after the game. He told the BBC,
“I wasn’t happy, I was bitterly disappointed at the way that happened. I asked him to stay calm in the heat of the battle but it was a stupid tackle and he deserved to be sent off. It’s about 90 minutes, not about 75 or 80 minutes. It’s about keeping calm for 90. I think it would be wrong to discuss his future now but I’m not very happy.”
I think we can all work out what his future might be if Shearer keeps the manager’s job!
The hoped for revival under the Toon legend has not come about and Shearer is still yet to win a game. He accepted that their defeat on Saturday was totally deserved,
“I’m bitterly disappointed to have lost the game. No complaints about the way we lost it – I think the first goal was probably offside, just, but would that have changed the outcome of the game? Probably not. They were the better side and deserved to beat us. It could have been a few more but for the woodwork but we’ll regroup. This game wasn’t going to save our season today but the next two will.”
Despite their poor run of form and the fact that they remain three points from safety and the fact that they were pretty terrible on Saturday, Shearer still believes that Newcastle can escape,
“I’ve seen enough from the boys in training and against Portsmouth last Monday to suggest that if we play in a similar sort of way and create the chances that we did in that game, that might be enough to keep us up. But we know how important that next game against Middlesbrough is – to both clubs.”
Whether Shearer’s optimism is well founded remains to be seen, but he knows that he is now without his most competitive and combative midfielder for those vital games.
I would imagine that it is very unlikely that Barton will ever play for Newcastle again and it is hard to see what club would be prepared to take a chance on the twenty-six year old.
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