VIDEO Nasty: Joey Bartons dirty cameo appearance (Newcastle) vs Arsenal
For as long as he lives Joey Barton will always be associated with violence. Thats what after being accused of sticking a lit cigar in youth player eye, after youve served time for assault outside a MacDonalds, after youve admitted beating up teammate Ousmane Dabo, and after crippling Xabi Alonso last season with a brutal foul by the corner flag.
Such a chequered past has left Barton an easy target for his critics, and the Newcastle midfielder gave his haters even more cannon-fodder on wednesday night against Arsenal when his cameo appearance witnessed a couple of brutal tackles on Craig Eastmond and Cesc Fabregas.
Barton was introduced for the final twenty minutes as he replaced Alan Smith in the centre of the park and he proceeded to bulldozer two Arsenal midfielders.
His first misdemeanor was carried out on young Gunner Craig Eastmond in the 89th minute. As the 19-year-old attempted to control the ball on the halfway line, Barton steamrollered straight through the back of the number 40 to get the ball, leaving the pup yelping in agony on the deck. Surprisingly Barton managed to escape a booking for his tackle from behind, but there was still enough time for the reducer to find himself going in the referees notebook for a tackle on Cesc Fabregas.
In the first minute of injury time Barton attempted to close down the Arsenal skipper playing a nothing-pass in his own half. The Geordie battler was unable to make his block count, however that appeared to matter little as instead Barton upended the talented Spaniard in a cynical late assault.
Joey Bartons bad tackles against Arsenal can be seen here.
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Painting Barton out to be just a thug is slightly disingenuous. While his character is clearly tarnished by his previous bad-boy antics, it would be unfair to acknowledge much of the hard work Barton appears t! o have d one in curbing his temper and looking to improve his image.
This was most notable when Newcastle took on wolves earlier in the season when, despite the Midlanders best-efforts to goad Barton into losing his rag with a series of fouls, the Toon number seven managed to keep himself in check.
That footage can be seen here.
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