Arsène Wenger has praised Joey Barton's "courage" and described the Newcastle United midfielder as "a great player". Although the prospect of Arsenal's manager making an imminent move for Barton remains unlikely, it appears his mind is perhaps not entirely closed to the possibility of recruiting a troubled talent currently available on a free transfer. "I like the courage of the player," said Wenger shortly after Barton's role as an agent provocateur had prompted Gervinho's sending-off during a fiery encounter at St James' Park. "Nobody dismisses signing Joey Barton but I don't think we envisage doing that at the moment," added the Frenchman following his team's goalless draw on Saturday evening. "He's a good player. Sometimes there's trouble with his temper but he's a great player." A touch of Gallic humour followed. "Maybe the way to sort Barton out is to sign him," joked Wenger. "Maybe that's the solution." Suspecting that Gervinho had dived in the face of a 74th-minute Cheik Tioté challenge, Barton grabbed the Ivorian by the throat and hauled him to his feet. Newcastle's Steven Taylor subsequently intervened as peacemaker but, when Gervinho slapped Barton, the midfielder collapsed as if poleaxed by a punch. "I shouldn't have gone over and pulled Gervinho up by his shirt, that's not the correct way to deal with it," Barton admitted on BBC Five Live last night. "I should have let the referee [Peter Walton] handle it. I shouldn't have done what I did. We [footballers] sometimes push the boundaries in trying to get an advantage. "I did go down easily but I felt disappointed by Gervinho trying to win a penalty. I have made a meal of it, I've been pushed harder by people at school but I can't take responsibility for Gervinho's actions." He did, however, concede he was wrong to accuse Gervinho of diving and accepts Tioté caught the striker. "After seeing it on Match of the Day I have to take back calling him a cheat," he said. "But I thought it was blatant diving." After intervening Taylor seemed to accuse Gervinho of elbowing, rather than slapping, Barton but, in a comment which may not be seen as a joke in Newcastle's dressing room, the latter told 606: "Tayls is not the sharpest tool in the box." While Barton is likely to evade any punishment for his reaction, the Football Association may impose a three-match ban on Alex Song if, as expected, the referee's report confirms that he did not spot his earlier stamp on the Newcastle midfielder. However, Jack Wilshere, the Arsenal midfielder who missed Saturday's match through injury, expressed his outrage at Barton's actions on Twitter: "That's a form of assault, it shouldn't happen on a football pitch." Barton's initial riposte included the comments: "Cheats win pens", "Imagine if I'd stamped on Song, all the numpties would be calling out for a public execution" and "Hopefully today proves my commitment." --------------------------------------------- Taken from the guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/aug/14/joey-barton-arsenal-arsene-wenger. So does this mean we like each other again?
Joey did not lift Gervinho by the throat He would be executed if he did. Double standards and no, Arsenal are still cheating scum this was written by our very own mackem sympathiser Louise Taylor, she had to make more damning than what it was
So he makes a joke about taylor and now that could disrupt the dressing room. They still have to have a dig at us.
I particularly loved this line: After intervening Taylor seemed to accuse Gervinho of elbowing, rather than slapping, Barton but, in a comment which may not be seen as a joke in Newcastle's dressing room, the latter told 606: "Tayls is not the sharpest tool in the box." Yeah the dressing is that fragile, all hell breaks loose at the first sign of a joke. She really is scum. On the actual topic though, I think Barton gets on better with some of their players more than people realise. Wenger is an intelligent guy and probably realises Joey deserves a lot of credit for the way he has turned himself around. There was of course plenty of niggle between him and Clichy, maybe some of the animosity went with him? That was about Dabo anyway. Arsenal did to Joey what I would, tried to wind him up. He dealt with it well and just about managed to keep himself out of trouble. He paid Arsenal back in spades gamesmanship wise. I think we got Arsenal at the right time and ocne they sign two or three and settle down they'll improve massively. Big point for us.
wilshere is a little tart , so song stamping on barton is not a kind of assault??? the funniest thing was when their goalie ran the whole length of the pitch to try and kick off, christ i wish wenger had his eyesight to see the incident that far away!
Bloody better be a joke. I think Barton would be just what Arsenal need, but after selling £70m of talent I don't think a free transfer would be the best way to appease the fans.
the funniest thing was watching the keeper stand with his hands behind his back, head down like a school kid, after the ref run the length of the pitch to book him
Aye he likes to have his say Wiltshire. Same on the pitch, one of the reasons I like him, he is a competitor. Again though I hate Twitter and wish the players didn't use it to air their views on all things football. What happened to leaving stuff on the pitch? I'm obviously old school but I think it works much better in a sporting sense. Not whinging but can we stop calling it a stamp, he stood on his leg, no big deal. I like that Barton has been brutally honest about the whole thing, admitting he hammed it up.
