Wilshere tweets: “It was an assault”

Young Gunner points finger at Barton

By Zain Alvi | 14th August 2011

Arsenal youngster Jack Wilshere has reacted to Joey Barton’s Twitter rant by insisting that the Newcastle midfielder must acknowledge his own wrongdoing before blaming others involved in the infamous incident that marred Saturday’s league opener between the two clubs.

Wilshere, who was sidelined with an injury as his teammates drew 0-0 at St. James’ Park in an uninspiring contest, conceded that his new teammate Gervinho should have avoided the overreaction that led to his immediate dismissal but insists that Barton has nothing to complain about.

“I think @joey7barton was in the wrong today! He should not have got invovled and assaulted Gervinho like that,” the England international wrote on his Twitter account in response to Barton stating that Arsenal’s summer signing deserved to be confronted.

He added: “Maybe Gerviniho should not have reacted like he did as two wrongs don’t make a right but Barton was unprofessional.”

In addition to accusing Gervinho of diving to appeal for a penalty, Barton also accused another Gunner – Alex Song – of infuriating him first by stamping on him in a prior incident during the match.

However, Wilshere emphasized that Barton’s actions were more worrisome because the Magpies player reacted to two football-related incidents by putting his hands on opposition players.

The 19-year old reminded Barton: “@joey7barton, that is a form of assault my friend (and) it should not happen on a football pitch!”

Barton first took to Twitter to address this matter merely an hour after the full-time whistle to respond to critics who felt that his violent conduct warranted a red card, regardless of what the Arsenal players had done.