When Joey met Sammy

On Saturday afternoon, well evening to be precise, the Arsenal destroyed Newcastle United with a display of passing and movement so scintillating it must had had Kevin Keegan's head spinning. That can be the only excuse for his comments post match. It has been said before that managers should be given a cool off period before speaking to the media to prevent the kind of outburst made famous by Keegan himself. Ok and Arsene Wenger on occasion. The only thing, is that whilst the sensible managers would probably appreciate this- see Arsene's retraction of comments made regarding poor Martin "tiny" Taylor (how's life in the Championship mate?) after his attempt at a tackle on Eduardo- you get the feeling certain managers, yes I'm looking at you Kevin, would stick resolutely to their guns in the face of all the evidence available to them. It must have been hard for Keegan; his side were widely held to be unlucky to come away with old Trafford with a solitary point, and on the back of an away day disaster for the Gunners, the media vultures were circling over N5.

 It didn't turn out as Keegan, and presumably the media, would have hoped. More to the point, it never looked like happening. Instead, we got the first signs of an Arsenal side coming to terms with the fact that they threw the title away last season. Coming to terms with it and looking to go again. What's more they were backed to the hilt by an atypically raucous Arsenal crowd. I was watching from Block 6, so it was always going to be noisy in there, but, for once, the rest of the ground got involved too. Maybe 5.30pm kick offs are the future for us, more prematch beer time can only help! Anyway, the rather pointless booing of Adebayor that had persisted in some sections on Wednesday night had disappeared, Ade responding with his best performance of the season, sharp lively, team orientated. This is the Adebayor we need to see this season; he was unlucky not to score with a left foot shot in the second half. Gael Clichy is surely the best left back in the country now, if not Europe. Quick, strong in the tackle, slippery and relentless. He even got a shot on target on Saturday. Robin van Persie, finally, got off the mark with a well taken penalty and then a hammering finish from an Eboue backheel.  Eboue's part in van Persie's goal earnt him a standing ovation as he was substituted in the second half. How low are our expectations of this guy? Carlos Vela replaced van Persie who got injured attempting to replicate a wonder goal scored against Blackburn in our last season at Highbury, and put in a very lively, not to say encouraging half hour.

And then, as the game faded out towards its end, Denilson having ensured the points for Arsenal, a new boy who has been so impressive in the early weeks of the season guaranteed himself legend status. Not just in N5 but around the country, it seems. The game had been played in such a relaxed atmosphere that when the booing began, I couldn't work out what was happening. The shouts of "Scum! Scum! Scum!" rising up around me soon clued me in. Ah, Joey Barton must be coming on, I thought.

I can only assume Kevin Keegan believed Joey's reappearance on a football pitch would pass unnoticed by the departing and/or narcoleptic Gooners. He was wrong, very, very wrong. We let him have it with both barrels. Especially when he crashed into our new hero, Samir Nasri. Not to worry though, Samir appears to be made of sterner stuff than players like Jose Reyes, so when Joey Barton ran past him, Nasri produced a little tap on his ankles to send him flying. A yellow card, but worth it. It reminded me of when some fat spurs idiot got in Manuel Almunia's face last year and was sent flying by Bacary Sagna about 20 seconds later.  You could only smile, well couldn't you? Apparently not. If you've got a player who has fractured a teammate's cheekbone, stubbed a cigar out in a youth colleague's eye and then been jailed for assaulting some poor unfortunate outside a McDonalds at an ungodly hour of the morning, wouldn't you think twice before exploding out of all proportion at his "treatment"? According to Kevin Keegan, Samir Nasri should have been sent off. Well, Mr Keegan, according to me, Joey Barton should still be in jail. So put that in your pipe and smoke it. Better yet, get Joey to do it for you. But make sure he doesn't miss.