Half time: Newcastle 0 Arsenal 0

Full time: Newcastle 0 Arsenal 0

Alan Pardew:

“Joey is a competitive player and I have played with a lot of competitive players. Look at someone like Paul Ince a lot of incidents happened around him and even Bryan Robson who was the captain of England.

"They are competitive players and there are going to be incidents when they put in full-on tackles or get involved in something they don’t like. They have got character. That is why they are great players.

"Joey Barton is a character. He gave me assurances on Friday that he was fully committed to Newcastle and he showed that today because his performance was one of the best performances out there.

"As you can see from his Twitter site he has got a personality and a bit of character. I am not saying he is always perfect but he expresses that on the pitch. 

"Me and Joey know what we are doing. He hasn’t got a contract for next season, of course, and that is still hanging over him but the assurance I have got from him is that he gives everything for me on a Saturday and pulls for the team.

"He could not have done more today in the dressing room and on the pitch. I think that he will be here beyond the end of August. You can never say anything 100 per cent in football but I think he will be.

"I think the referee made the correct decision because firstly Gervinho dived and I don’t think there is any doubt about that. That gets the blood boiling in any footballer, let alone Joey Barton. He just tried to express that to Gervinho in saying what are you doing, diving, and grabbed hold of him.

"Then it turned into a tussle but Joey never raised his hands or anything and the guy has slapped him round the head. You can’t do that on a Sunday morning and he ain’t gonna get away with it here. He gets involved in things but what has he done today. He has been slapped round the head and stamped on.

"Alex Song is a player I love because he worked for me at Charlton. He is a terrific lad and that is very out of character for him. Hopefully he did it by mistake but it was a stamp. He put his foot on him and Alex will be disappointed when he sees that. There is no point hiding from the truth. That’s what happened and I will tell him when I see that.

"It was a strange game in a lot of ways because I felt the start of the game went according to what I predicted because I thought that there would be a resolve from the Arsenal dressing room because of the criticism that has come their way saying they are not going to win anything this side and that it would fire them up and it did but we showed tremendous resolve. But our passing and set-plays let us down today.

"We’re confident we’ll have some new players here by next weekend. I don’t want to talk about specific players, but I’m confident that by the time we play Sunderland I’ll have a left-back in place – and hopefully a striker.

"Ryan (Taylor) deserves a medal He was up against Gervinho, who I think is one of the best players in the Premier League - I know he is, because I tried to sign him. Then he was up against Theo Walcott for the last 15 minutes!

"I hope he (Taylor) doesn’t play next week, because I think we’ll have a left-back, but if Ryan has to play there, then fine. It’s got to be hats off to him. He has that sort of role at our club – centre mid, right-hand side of midfield, right-back or left-back, it doesn’t matter, he does an honest job."

Gabriel Obertan:

"I was relieved – last season especially was a bit frustrating for me, and it just felt good to be on the pitch for 45 minutes, and to enjoy my football. It’s good – I’m lucky that the fans like quick and tricky players, so I hope I’ll do well for them. I’ll give my best on the pitch, and as long as the club gets results, I’ll be happy.

"If I need to be defending more, or whatever, I’ll do it. The integration has been easy. It’s quite easy to fit into the group. I’m just happy that training has gone well, and the atmosphere in the group is good.

"The last season was quite frustrating, so I’m up for anything on the pitch. The most important thing for me was to get my confidence back and make good passes and I created some opportunities, so it was good overall. The only thing missing was the three points, but we’re still happy with the point.

"We could have done better – they were down to 10 men. We’re still happy with one point - it’s important to grab something from the big teams.”

Yohan Cabaye:

"For me that was perfect. I love the English atmosphere, the English fans. Newcastle fans are brilliant. I am happy to start in the team, in the Premier League, and with the atmosphere. That was fantastic.

"It was a good first game for me and for the team because Arsenal are a good side. I am very tired. It was very tough, but when I play more games I will get better and it will be okay for me. I will work a lot to get fitter.

"We have played one game and got one point - a good point - and now we have to work for Sunderland next week. We have to win there."

Joey Barton's twitter highlights:

"maybe I shouldn't of got involved but diving and trying to win a penalty, is sh*t. Needs stamping out (No pun)."

"What do people want me to do, stand and trade blows with Gervinho. If u raise ur hands to players faces, u should be off. Ref got it right..."

"Imagine if id of stamped on Song, all the numptys would be out calling for a public execution. What cos its on me its alright?"

"If i stayed up or went down its not relevant, raises his hands off. I was merely highlighting he struck me. Song stamped should of been seen."

"Great result and performance from the lads. On a personal note hopefully, today proves my commitment, if it was ever in doubt."

And one which was subsequently deleted: 

"bad shirt shoes and views from shearer again sort it out slaphead"

PS: Sunday evening saw Barton appear on BBC Radio 5, where he admitted that:

"I shouldn't have gone over and pulled Gervinho up by his shirt, that's not the correct way to deal with it. I should have let the referee handle it. I shouldn't have done what I did. We sometimes push the boundaries in trying to get an advantage.

"I did go down easily but I felt disappointed by Gervinho trying to win a penalty. I have made a meal of it, I've been pushed harder by people at school but I can't take responsibility for Gervinho's actions. After seeing it on Match of the Day I have to take back calling him a cheat, but I thought it was blatant diving."

Arsene Wenger griped:

"I think I saw two yellows or two reds but not one yellow and one red. There is a link between the incident (and Diaby’s dismissal in 2010/11). He (Barton) got away with a yellow card both years.

"I thought we had a solid performance and were in control. Newcastle had last season’s 4-4 more in their mind than we did. They organised not to concede goals, defended well and it was very difficult for us because we played a team who was highly focused to defend. 

"We missed something, the regret is that we missed something in the final third and in the speed of our passing. But, overall, we had a good performance. I can’t remember giving Newcastle a chance at goal and, away from home, you have to give credit to our team for that.

"We try to play football and, if you watched today, you will see that. Overall, I feel we have been very harshly punished today. We try to play and sometimes we overreact. We have to take control of that. If we have an area to improve on, then that is it. We will learn from that today.

"If we had conceded a goal I would have been bombarded with questions about why I don’t buy a centre back! They have to take credit. I am not against spending money if the players we buy can improve our squad. We have a big squad and if some players leave we will try to bring players in. We request top quality and we are not scared to spend money.

"It is important that there is a love between the fans and the players. The players today have shown a commitment that deserves the support of the fans.

"I like the courage of the player (Barton) Nobody dismisses signing Joey Barton but I don't think we envisage doing that at the moment. He's a good player. Sometimes there's trouble with his temper but he's a great player - maybe the way to sort Barton out is to sign him, maybe that's the solution."