Joey Barton causes controversy with opinion on Jean-Philippe Mateta kung-fu kick

Joey Barton has been slammed as "pathetic" by fans on social media after he criticised the decision to send off Liam Roberts despite his kung-fu kick on Jean-Philippe Mateta.

Crystal Palace's 3-1 win over Millwall was marred by goalkeeper Roberts' horror challenge on Mateta during their FA Cup tie as he struck the forward in the head with a flying boot, connecting with his studs.

Roberts received his marching orders for violent conduct in the eighth minute of the game, but former Manchester City and Newcastle star Barton has since argued a red card was harsh. He claimed Roberts got the ball and that Mateta should have protected himself better.

Barton, who has become infamous for his trolling on social media and vile taunts towards other pundits and broadcasters, accused Mateta of "f***ing about" and insisted play should have resumed immediately.

"Mateta is f***ing about, and finds out," he wrote on social media. "Keeper well within rights there. Kicks the ball on the up. Doesn’t stamp through on the player. Momentum takes him into him. Play on.

"Shouldn’t have been a [dismissal]. JP should have protected himself better. It’s your fault if you get done like that. Mane’s well worse on Ederson. Move on."

Barton had also said in a previous tweet: "I think it’s a foul by Mateta initially on defender. Keeper gets the ball and momentum takes him into the man. Play on or free kick to the keeper in my opinion. Never a red. Mateta has cut to his head. Play on. Contact sport."

Fans were left stunned by Barton's assessment on social media as one replied: "Being a contrarian just for the sake of it. Pathetic!"

Another said: "Joey, stop being deliberately provocative, you know it was dangerously high and is completely irrelevant that he got the ball first."

A third accused him of "attention seeking", as they wrote: "Joey Barton’s Twitter account is clearly a contrarian parody set up to get clicks. There’s no way he actually believes this stuff."

Barton has come under fire in the last year after aiming malicious tweets at a number of pundits and presenters. He compared Eni Aluko and commentator Lucy Ward to serial killers Fred and Rose West and was also accused of sending offensive messages to Jeremy Vine - for which he has a pre-trial hearing on March 14.