Ivory Coast forward Gervinho, making his competitive debut following his summer move from Lille, went down under a challenge in the box and Barton hauled him to his feet. Gervinho slapped Barton in response, and was sent off by referee Peter Walton, who booked Barton. Wenger felt the referee was influenced by his assistant and suggested he might appeal against Gervinho's dismissal. He said: "I think Gervinho didn't deserve a red card, he should give a red to the two players or a yellow to the two. "I feel the referee has not seen it and the linesman has not seen it properly. I'm 100% sure that the referee did not see the incident so I would like to know who made the decision." The Arsenal boss was also clear on why his side did not pick up all three points in their season-opener. "We had a solid performance where we controlled the game. We missed our chances in the first half and missed a little accuracy with the final ball," he said. "They tried to slow the game down and defend well, we were pushing to score and it is difficult to say whether we would have scored or not (without the sending-off)." Newcastle defender Steven Taylor refused to cast judgement on the decision to send off the Arsenal frontman but praised the performance of Barton. "It is not for me to comment, the referee made his decision at the end of the day so I can't say anything about that. I didn't see a thing," he said. "He (Barton) played fantastically today and he is a big player for us, he was great today." Newcastle manager Alan Pardew felt Gervinho was guilty of simulation and that the situation flared after he attempted to win his side a penalty. He said: "He dived, there is not doubt about that. Joey has reacted and he grabbed Joey and there was a tussle, and then he slapped him and you can't do that. "I think Joey was calm, Song did stamp on him (before the sending off) and that is out of character for him and I'm sure he will regret that. I spoke to Joey before he went back on the pitch. "I'm not going to defend Joey to the hilt but his performance today was very good in terms of what has been going on." The former West Ham boss also revealed he 'feared' the opposition before today's game. "I think in the first game everyone is not quite nailed down and we certainly weren't. We were cheap with the ball and I feared Arsenal today. The criticism they have had I thought they would come out of the blocks," he said. "We got to grips with it and what I am pleased with is the diligence of the side and the way they worked and stuck at it."
