Newcastle United vs Aston Villa

[Tom 14011]

From 365

 

 

One Rule For Barton, One For Everyone Else?

 

 

 

'Joey Barton is facing trial by TV after an ugly spat with Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor in Newcastle's 2-0 win. Barton has a suspended six-match ban hanging over him from the Ousmane Dabo assault' - The Daily Mail.

 

'Joey Barton, the disgraced Newcastle United midfielder, faced trial by television on Monday night and the threat of another suspension after allegedly flicking out at Aston Villa forward Gabriel Agbonlahor and catching him in the face' - The Daily Telegraph.

 

Actually, both of these claims are incorrect. Barton has already faced a trial by television and been found guilty by those eminent judges of proper behaviour. The trial that awaits is of the FA and whether the governing body is ready to be bullied by the media into taking action against the midfielder.

 

The ugly side to Newcastle's win wasn't Barton's 'spat' with Agbonlahor but the speed and relish to condemn. First in line was Graham Poll, the self-appointed moral guardian of the game despite regularly wrecking matches for a living over a ten-year period, to be wheeled out to depict Barton's flick of Agbonlahor's nose as A Crime Against All That Is Good In The World.

 

"He actually does strike the opponent," Poll wailed. "You can't deny that is striking."

 

Err, you can. A strike is what Barton meted out, repeatedly, outside a McDonald's last year. A tweak is what the unharmed Agbonlahor endured.

 

But discussing semantics of Barton's latest controversy is to miss the point of the outrage.

 

Look hard enough at any game of football and a dozen red-card offences missed by the referee would be apparent. Barton is being targeted because Newcastle's last five matches have been played out in front of the live cameras and he is the player the media want to target. It is discriminatory and those demanding 'justice' are the ones committing the injustice.

 

Until every match and every incident is given equal scrutiny, until the FA confirm whether their disciplinary department actually exists and is not just a collection of hastily-assembled individuals occasionally provoked into action by media pressure, retrospective punishment will remain an impossibly flawed process. Ugly, in fact.

 

The picture accompanying this article shows Tony Hibbert grappling with Gael Clichy in a match at Arsenal last month. It was not highlighted by the media, or even shown by the television cameras, despite the Everton full-back committing (the picture is deceptive, because Hibbert didn't actually strike Clichy) the same crime that Barton has been found guilty of - that of raising his hands. Why not? Because Hibbert, compared to Barton, is a nobody. He does not sell. So the flashpoint was not spotlighted and the FA, with the agenda of their disciplinary department dictated by the television schedules and weight of media outrage, remained mute.

 

There's either a rule for this sort of thing, or there's just one for Joey Barton. However much we all dislike him, it can't be both.

 

Pete Gill

[Douggy B 0]

"Theyre all against us" wailed Newcastle fans

 

Although if that was striking, then so was Duff with the ref the week before.

 

Lock em all up I say.

Edited November 4, 2008 by Danny B

[Tom 14011]

''Don't ban me for being a poor wind up merchant'' wailed Danny_B.

[Happy Face 29]

Pete Gill

 

[Tom 14011]

[Dr Gloom 21814]

good piece that

[sweetleftpeg 0]

Just a few days ago Joe Kinnear claimed Obafemi Martins is "not a team player" but last night the Nigerian striker's two goals lifted his Newcastle United team off the bottom of the league table.

 

On an evening when Joey Barton was arguably lucky not be sent off, United's second successive win was enough to shoot Kinnear's side up to the dizzy heights of 14th position in a division so tight that only six points separate seventh-placed Everton from Tottenham at the bottom.

 

Aston Villa stay fifth but departed Tyneside rueing their failure to make the most of a dominant first-half performance. "We missed a number of early chances," lamented the manager, Martin O'Neill. "We could have won but, while we played brilliantly on the counter-attack before half-time, we just didn't take our chances. Newcastle then conjured something more in the second half when they were very sturdy. This will be a major confidence boost for them."

 

Barton's critics claimed he had enjoyed a significant escape after becoming embroiled in a minor contretemps with Gabriel Agbonlahor. Shortly after being bundled over by the Villa forward as they challenged for the ball, the Newcastle midfielder raised a hand, flicked his wrist and gently swiped Agbonlahor on the nose with a stroke of his palm.

 

The contact was minimal, fleeting and was surely intended as a joke but Middlesbrough's Jérémie Aliadière was sent off for doing something very similar last season. Moreover, Barton currently has a suspended six-game Football Association ban hanging over him and, with his considerable previous, he cannot afford to be on anything but his best behaviour.

 

Amid all the excitement Kinnear had lost his voice, so Chris Hughton conducted the post-match duties. "We haven't discussed it," said Newcastle's first-team coach. "But we are aware that any incident with Joey is going to be blown up out of all proportion."

 

While raising hands on a football pitch is never wise, it is also true that had any other player done something similar it would barely have merited a mention. That said the former referee Graham Poll, now a TV pundit, claimed Barton struck an opponent and consequently should have been dismissed. Moreover Poll was convinced that, had the referee seen the incident properly, he would have given Barton his marching orders. If he did not spot anything untoward and explains this in his report, however, the FA could, in theory, act retrospectively on video evidence.

 

Perhaps Agbonlahor can cite "post-Barton trauma'"as an excuse when he is asked to explain the sitter he missed shortly afterwards following James Milner's dodging of Fabricio Coloccini and subsequent fine cross. By then Martin Laursen had headed against a post from a Gareth Barry centre and a meaty tackle from Steven Taylor had denied Milner as Newcastle struggled to cope with Villa's speed on the break.

 

Agbonlahor was displaying the sort of turn of pace once synonymous with the young Michael Owen and one such sortie concluded with the Villa man playing in Ashley Young, who turned Taylor before his shot was bravely blocked by Shay Given. Taylor then failed to make the most of a fine cross by Habib Beye, the centre- half hesitating for a milli-second for the chance to evaporate in front of him.

 

The tide was turning in the defensively tighter Newcastle's favour but Barton's timing was even worse than Taylor's nine minutes into the second half, when he was rightly booked for a late tackle on Luke Young. Now Newcastle's No7 really needed to watch his step.

 

Equally Martins needed to mind his language after being stupidly booked for dissent in the wake of Carlos Cuéllar's clattering challenge near a corner flag. Yet if the Nigerian has been picking up some bad linguistic habits from Kinnear, he made amends on the hour. Fastening on to a fine through-ball from Barton - the midfielder really can play - Martins turned Nicky Shorey before unleashing an unstoppable shot with his left foot from the edge of the area that had beaten Brad Friedel almost before it left his boot.

 

Suitably inspired, Martins turned in a second from close range after Jonas Gutierrez switched from the right wing to the left and, having sashayed past Nigel Reo-Coker, sped past a couple more Villa markers before crossing.

 

All that remained was for the newly fit Owen to step off the bench in injury time, presumably to collect his win bonus.

 

Ok, Louise, you fucking hate us, we get it.

[Kid Dynamite 6992]

"Theyre all against us" wailed Newcastle fans

 

Although if that was striking, then so was Duff with the ref the week before.

 

Lock em all up I say.

 

You got nothing to fear, its not like anyone can accuse Bent of being a striker is it!

[Douggy B 0]

"Theyre all against us" wailed Newcastle fans

 

Although if that was striking, then so was Duff with the ref the week before.

 

Lock em all up I say.

 

You got nothing to fear, its not like anyone can accuse Bent of being a striker is it!

 

6 goals scored this season compared to NUFCs top scorer?

Edited November 4, 2008 by Danny B

[Tom 14011]

He has five goals to his name this season so they are in with a pretty good shout

[Guest alex]

Bent's a canny player tbf.

[Tom 14011]

Exactly.

 

J69 set himself up for a bit of a trip really...

[Kid Dynamite 6992]

Id rather have shola!!! Bigger waste of money than anyone newcastle have bought, relatively speaking

[donaldstott 0]

Taylor then failed to make the most of a fine cross by Habib Beye, the centre- half hesitating for a milli-second for the chance to evaporate in front of him.

 

Did she watch the game cos form where I was sitting he sprinted from the centre circle into the box and was unlucky not to connect with the cross

 

On this occasion she got it spot on, he just slowed his run as he broke in to the box, before speeding up again..

[Guest alex]

Id rather have shola!!! Bigger waste of money than anyone newcastle have bought, relatively speaking

I wouldn't say Bent has been excellent value or anything. He is a canny player though. Different class to Shola. And I'd say we've had several players who have been worse value buys. Not sure what you mean by relatively speaking though.

[Tom 14011]

Id rather have shola!!! Bigger waste of money than anyone newcastle have bought, relatively speaking

 

 

 

and Guivarch was relatively expensive at the time...

[ewerk 30266]

Id rather have shola!!! Bigger waste of money than anyone newcastle have bought, relatively speaking

 

 

 

and Guivarch was relatively expensive at the time...

 

Tbf we got our money back on Guivarch didn't we?

 

Edit: And he wasn't that expensive was he?

Edited November 4, 2008 by ewerk

[Tom 14011]

I can't remember. I think I was 11 at the time

[khay 10]

"Theyre all against us" wailed Newcastle fans

 

Although if that was striking, then so was Duff with the ref the week before.

 

Lock em all up I say.

 

You got nothing to fear, its not like anyone can accuse Bent of being a striker is it!

 

6 in 14 this season compared to NUFCs top scorer?

 

4 in 7 from Martins

 

and 5 in 9 for Owen.

[Tom 14011]

Good effort Khay!

[Douggy B 0]

"Theyre all against us" wailed Newcastle fans

 

Although if that was striking, then so was Duff with the ref the week before.

 

Lock em all up I say.

 

You got nothing to fear, its not like anyone can accuse Bent of being a striker is it!

 

6 goals this season compared to NUFCs top scorer?

 

4 in 7 from Martins

 

and 5 in 9 for Owen.

 

I have edited my original post to suit my argument. Ta.

Edited November 4, 2008 by Danny B

[khay 10]

"Theyre all against us" wailed Newcastle fans

 

Although if that was striking, then so was Duff with the ref the week before.

 

Lock em all up I say.

 

You got nothing to fear, its not like anyone can accuse Roman Pavlyuchenko of being a striker is it!

 

2 goals this season compared to NUFCs top scorer?

 

4 from Martins

5 for Owen.

and 2 for Shola.

 

 

 

I have edited my original post to suit my argument. Ta.

 

I have edited my original post to suit my argument. Ta.

[Tom 14011]

 

Khay is on form.

 

Now you just need to say how he cost £14m.

[The Fish 10750]

Was saying last night that Taylor should have gone for the diving header. Wehre have the missile headers gone? the Sir Les Express?

 

Is it just that they're less likely to come off, or has the centre forward died a death? or is it a dirth of competent wingers? a combination? or something entirely different.

[NJS 4371]

Was saying last night that Taylor should have gone for the diving header. Wehre have the missile headers gone? the Sir Les Express?

 

Is it just that they're less likely to come off, or has the centre forward died a death? or is it a dirth of competent wingers? a combination? or something entirely different.

 

 

Bowyer scored a cracking one against Bolton a couple of years ago when he'd started the move on half-way - dived over the top of Dyer iirc.

 

Not strictly the "daisycutter" of old but the nearest one recently I think.