We didn’t hear Joey Barton criticising Sam Allardyce much when they were at Newcastle together.
Barton has always been outspoken but now that he’s been forced to step away from football as he serves a ban for breaking betting rules, he’s reached a whole new level of mouthy.
The controversial midfielder seems to be on social media more often than he’s not nowadays and when he’s not winding up supporters on Twitter, he’s spouting his divisive opinions on talkSPORT.
This weekend, Barton took to the airwaves to deliver a bizarre swipe at new Everton caretaker manager David Unsworth as he claimed that Ronald Koeman’s temporary replacement was too overweight to be taken seriously.
“He’s a glorified PE teacher who shouldn’t be in charge of a men’s team,” Barton said while on commentary duty during Everton’s defeat to Leicester at the King Power Stadium on Sunday.
“Look at him on the touchline, he’s more like a steward.
“I watched him waddling onto the coach. How can you get players to exert themselves physically when you’re out of shape?
“I used to watch him as an Evertonian and he was the most immobile left back I’ve ever seen. He’s not a manager and doesn’t look like one.
“Unsworth makes Alan Brazil look like an athlete. I used to call him Chipper Unsworth because he used to chip it and lose it every time.
“I’m a firm believer that teams reflect their manager and Everton did today. They were sloppy.
“Everton need to sort their managerial situation out because it can’t be Unsworth.”
I like and respect @Joey7Barton, but bringing Unsworth's weight into the debate is bang out of order. Join me from 10 @talkSPORT.
— Jim White (@JimWhite) October 30, 2017
Unsworth’s reign in interim charge of the Toffees hasn’t gotten off to the best start, as he oversaw two defeats in his first week in the dugout.
And after Sunday’s defeat to Leicester, the 44-year-old was asked if he had a response to Barton’s criticism.
“I’ve not seen [what Barton said],” Unsworth said.
“It’s not a problem what Joey Barton says, I couldn’t care less.”
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