Joey Barton

AN uneasy truce has been brokered between Joey Barton and his employers, but let’s not call it peace in our time.

Where the midfielder is concerned, peace is rarely the right word. In the space of 48 frenetic hours over the opening weekend of the season Barton managed to talk himself out – and then back into – the Newcastle starting XI, got into a fight, snarled menacingly at a fourth official, branded Alan Shearer a badly-dressed "slaphead" and offered up a Nietzsche quote for his 300,000 Twitter followers.

Somewhere in there he even managed to deliver a customary high octane performance to disrupt and unsettle an Arsenal side that had no solution to a well-organised United rearguard action. But even by Barton’s scattergun standards it was some weekend.

The question that Alan Pardew must answer is whether his agitator-in-chief is worth the trouble and strife that inevitably comes hurtling round the corner whenever he is present. While Barton was much more sinned against than sinner on Saturday, there are questions to answer about whether the amount of focus trained on one man is detrimental to a club clearly in a transitional period.

The answer at full-time was that he was – but probably only just. St James’ Park delivered its verdict in no uncertain terms on Saturday evening. His name on the teamsheet received the loudest cheer of the day before the game and his show of appreciation – a clenched fist reminiscent of a civil rights gesture from the 1960s – was acclaimed by his public.

Little did they know how close it came to Barton not even making the side. Having been summoned to the manager’s office early on Friday morning, the midfielder gave the assurances that the United boss wanted to hear and was inked in to fill the right wing slot.

But then his mood darkened on the training field and Pardew contemplated a U-turn, a thought that gained even more momentum when Barton – typically – refused to back down.

This continued for most of a day when surely Pardew had other things to consider. If the midfielder is hard work, though, his performances over the last 12 months offer frequent, regular reminders about just why he is so important to the black and white cause. And that was the case again on Saturday, when no one strained more sinews for the cause than Barton did.

Snarling, ferocious and occasionally inspired, his experience and knowhow was crucial to a wholehearted effort that ensured Newcastle negotiated a potentially treacherous opening day fixture.

There was, of course, turbulence along the way. He deserves praise for calming himself after Alex Song’s cynical stamp in the second half but his reaction to Gervinho’s perceived dive was dangerous and on another day, perhaps away from St James’ Park, it might have drawn a red card of its own.

Instead it just prompted the ire of the Ivorian forward, who threw a failing hand in the Liverpudlian’s face and earned himself a sending off that spoiled an otherwise smart debut. Barton, ironically, probably went down a shade too easily. That red card effectively ended Arsenal’s challenge and while Arsene Wenger argued that referee Peter Walton had got it wrong, he couldn’t argue that Pardew (below), Barton and Newcastle had done a number on his side.

There were things to concern United over the course of 90 minutes too. Pardew has made a big deal of creating a more rapid, creative and mobile midfield but there was little creativity on show on Saturday.

Yohan Cabaye struggled to keep his head above water as the game hurtled along at a breakneck pace. Demba Ba was anonymous, Cheick Tiote off the pace and it was only when the encouraging Gabriel Obertan came on that Newcastle offered any kind of cut and thrust. All of that was balanced by a defensive effort that was simply sublime. Steven Taylor has waited a long time to come back into the reckoning and on this showing he is determined not to waste the opportunity now it has arrived.

He was a rock and Fabricio Coloccini – who remains the subject of intensive transfer rumours – was just as solid alongside him. If there was a weak link it was at left-back where Ryan Taylor filled in manfully, but it is clearly not a long- term solution to the problems posed by Jose Enrique’s expected departure to Anfield.

Too often Gervinho and Andrey Arshavin gave him trouble and while Taylor’s determination and commitment was laudable, it is not a situation that can be allowed to fester by Pardew for too long.

Those negotiations for Erik Pieters, which are proving as tortuous as the rest of United’s transfer business, must be concluded before the Wear-Tyne derby.

So it was a fine team effort but as the United faithful filtered out of St James’ Park, only one man’s name was on their lips.

The PA announcer even got in on the act, mischievously spinning ‘This Charming Man’ by the Smiths – Barton’s favourite band. His charms are just about keeping him in credit at the moment. But let’s hope that by the time derby day rolls around, we won’t be lamenting the fact ‘Big Mouth Strikes Again’.