Joey Barton claimed he forgot Aaron Collins was even playing for Bristol Rovers as he delivered a scathing assessment of his captain’s display in their 2-0 defeat to Wycombe Wanderers at the Mem.
Collins donned the armband for the Gas, hours after learning he had missed out on selection for the Wales national team again, and produced one of his least effective performances of the campaign as Rovers conceded twice either side of the break and were unable to make the most of their 21 shots at goal.
Few opportunities fell the way of the 25-year-old who has just one goal in his last eight appearances and is perhaps starting to show the stresses and strains of a long season in which he’s started every single one of Rovers’ 36 League One games.
“Aaron, was he here tonight?” Barton said, when asked about the Welshman’s disappointment of not being picked for Wales. “I didn’t know he was here, did he turn up? I thought he was ill. I’ll have a chat with him when he comes in in the morning, having not seen him tonight, but the focus is about the game, Wales is none of my business.
“It’s not like Aaron’s been in the squad before and he’s been expected to be called up. He’s made a bit of noise in the division but international managers don’t care about League One, surely Aaron knows that. You’ve got to set it on fire to get in an international squad.
“I think in recent weeks, I don't think Aaron has hit his bootstraps. Wales, are a smaller international country, and it means they’re less likely to be a possession-dominant team. Aaron does his best work when his team has got the ball. He’s not the finished article when he doesn’t have the ball.
“If I’m honest I’ll be very very surprised if he gets an international call-up based on his body of work so far.”
Barton was furious with a moment in the second half where he claimed his No10 ducked out of a header on halfway - an incident not befitting of someone playing for one of his teams, let alone his captain.
“My captain has gone up for a header and ducked,” Barton added. “For me, I’ve told him in no uncertain terms, when you put on the quartered jersey and you’re the captain and we’re in the Mem, you can’t duck anything.
"I’m not saying you need to fly in, blood and thunder, but you’ve got to go and complete your sequence, put your body on the line and secure the ball, or at least get your head on it. And that was really disappointing again.
“When you’re brilliant I’ll tell you, and you’ll know I mean it because I’m a truthful guy but when you’re not brilliant I’ll tell you and you have to take it as it is.
“For me, there are loads of ways you can manage people, I’ve decided to do it my way and that’s going to have good and bad moments but my way is the truthful way.
“I think I speak for the supporters, if you’ve got a quartered jersey on, and the captain of Bristol Rovers Football Club and we’re playing at home and a ball’s in the air, you have to go and contest that.
“I’m not saying you turn into a Duncan Ferguson-type but you have to compete and I’ve seen a few things there from a few players that I’m not happy with. I’ll keep that for the one-on-one chats on Thursday.”
Barton also raised issues around the Mem surface once again, claiming the first goal they conceded, as Lamare Bogarde miscontrolled a pass in midfield before Brandon Hanlan was set free, was the result of an uneven playing surface that continues to bug him.
He did however concede his team needed to be more “streetwise” against sides like Wycombe and, ultimately, take their chances when on top.
“Disappointed, we’ve had a number of really good opportunities but goals change games,” Barton said. “We gift them their first goal. I do think it’s our pitch, it takes a bobble and Lamare wouldn’t be used to that at Aston Villa. I can’t be any more critical of the pitch, I’ve said my piece on that in recent weeks.
“I think we’re 20th for home form and I have to factor our pitch into that because we want to get down and play and, as we’ve seen from their first goal, we can’t hit a molehill or bobble, and, as I say, it gets away from Lamare and Brandon gets an opportunity to score.
“At that point we were the better side. They score in that moment and it gives them the opportunity to sit back. We’ve still created a number of opportunities, and via poor finishing and good defending and good goalkeeping we haven’t managed to put it in the back of the net.”
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