Well he is according to him.Good to see he has his confidence back. ....Joey Barton admits he is bemused as to why he is not involved in the England team as he feels he is best English midfielder around. The Newcastle man has issued a damning verdict on the current England side singling out Manchester City midfielder Gareth Barry for his most fierce criticism. Barton, who has one England cap to his name, has been continually overlooked by England boss Fabio Capello despite his impressive form for the Magpies this season. The former Manchester City player admits he would love to add to the cap picked up against Spain in 2007, but believes his past misdeameanours are counting against him. "Honestly, I think I'm the best [English midfielder]," Barton told the French magazine So Foot. "If you watch the fourth goal, when [Mesut] Ozil was up against Barry, it was like the hare and the tortoise. " Joey Barton on Gareth Barry "Luka Modric and Samir Nasri are very good, but in terms of English players... well, Jack Wilshere isn't bad, but Frank Lampard's on the way down and Steven Gerrard's been injured a lot." Problem "I'm English and I love playing for my country. "Maybe the people at the top have a problem with me. I don't know. But the trouble I had was four years ago. They should be able to forgive, shouldn't they?" Barton saved his most withering remarks for Barry, who captained England in last week's friendly with Ghana. "Did you see the game against Germany at the World Cup?" asked Barton. "If you watch the fourth goal, when [Mesut] Ozil was up against Barry, it was like the hare and the tortoise. "Barry's got a very good agent," Barton indicated as the reason for the player's success. "He's also discreet and always agrees with the manager. ."He's like the guy who sits in the front row and listens to the teacher. I certainly don't lose any sleep when I play against him." Tradition The 28-year-old believes England are stuck in the past and that if they do not change their approach they will never win the World Cup again. "We English will play the next 50 World Cups and we'll never win one," added Barton. "The people in charge at the FA played football maybe 50 or 60 years ago and still think that we can win a World Cup in the same way we did in 1966. "We're too focused on tradition in England, like always having to play 4-4-2. Sometimes you need to experiment, drop a bit deeper so you have more space to move into. "France, Italy and Germany have done it. We've been doing the same thing for 20 years
What a f**king lunatic, maybe just maybe the FA don't a scumbag with three seperate assault charges as a great representative of the country. I love the 'the trouble I had was more than four years ago' quote as well..........a more accurate statement would be that his last trouble was four years, he's been a c**t all his life. I'd have to agree with him on the last paragraph though.
In fairness to him he's better than Barry, and Lampard is on his way out, and Stevie is injured a lot, and Wilshere aint bad, and Nasri and Modric are good but are not English. Scumbag he may be, but Carroll, Rooney, Terry, Cole, Rio they're no angels.
True, but its all about perspective, missing *cough cough* a drugs test or poking a teammates ex is a bit different that this though: Joey Barton was caught on CCTV knocking an unidentified man to the ground. He then straddled him and punched him four or five times as his cousin threw food at the victim before the Premier League player punched him up to 15 times more. Minutes later, the midfielder attacked a 16-year-old, punching him and leaving him with broken teeth. On the Dabo assault: Joe Hart, the club goalkeeper, described how Barton appeared to be holding up Mr Dabo and was able to punch him four or five times before other players intervened. Teammates described seeing Barton hitting out with a flurry of blows, with blood pouring from the victim’s head, ear and nose. Mr Dabo, who suffered trauma to his left eye, feared for a while that his eyesight was permanently damged and that it would bring his professional career to a close. If Barton was Irish would you honestly want him anywhere near the national team?
He ain't wrong about Barry though, what money we would have wasted on him. my sweet lord as George Harrison used to say
Now there's a land mine I was quite happy to sidestep.We have enough rubbish in the squad without adding him to the pile.
Barton has be class for Newcastle this season, I like him actually yeah is a complete nutter maybe that's why lol.
Barton is a defensive midfielder and is no way the best English midfielder!!! He's not even the nest scouse midfielder, Newcastle have a better midfielder in Kevin Nolan than him!
Don't know weather to laugh or cry at this ......f**kin nob head......puts together a handful of games this season as he manages to stay out of prison and thinks he's the new Maradonna....