Growing Barton

Stuart Pearce praised Joey Barton’s maturity after another City goal and Man of the Match performance at Craven Cottage yesterday.

the Blues' third successive away win!!!!!!!!What a shock. Pearce said: “I think he’s flourishing in the team and in the shape of the team.

“If I was Joey, I’d look behind me and see Jihai sitting in there, so I know I can go forward.

“Behind Jihai are two colossuses as well and in front of him there’s a geezer [Mpenza] that’s holding that ball for him and making runs for him. DaMarcus Beasley also showed that he’s prepared to run in behind for his goal against Fulham.

“You can’t do it unless you’ve got a team around you and that’s important for us.”

In another season of ups and downs for Barton, Pearce has clearly seen the change in his prize midfielder.

He reflected: “A year ago, if Joey irritated me in respect to anything he would never walk back into my office and apologise, things have changed now.

“Joey comes in at times if he thinks he’s stepped out of line and says, ‘Sorry gaffer, I think I got that wrong yesterday.’ I can work with people like that and it echoes his maturity on a football pitch as well, which I’m pleased to see.”

I believe Joey Barton is the Key man in our team,he may not have the skill of a world class player however his passion and drive is one of the best i have ever seen in a blue shirt yes he has made mistakes but he has turned his life around and is going from strengh to strengh I believe he will leave eventually and for no more than 5.5 million i personally feel hes at least double that amount but how many clubs bigger than city are there that would want to buy him??? tottenham,newcastle and perhaps villa Not one of the top 4 would buy him simply because hes not good enough for them.lets hope we can keep him in our midfield
Roll on the scousers lets hope for a home goal for the first time in over 7 hours(yes thats right 7 hours!!)