'Idiotic young boy' – Joey Barton launches scathing attack on his own player

Bristol Rovers boss Joey Barton has publicly slammed one of his own players, labelling Luke Thomas an ‘idiotic young boy’ in an astonishing angry rant.

Barton, notorious for this thuggish behaviour as both a player and manager, was left furious at Thomas and labelled him a ‘weak, feeble-minded individual’ for his error in a 2-0 League One defeat to Peterborough United.

Thomas, 24, who joined Bristol Rovers permanently this summer and has earned three caps for England U20s, was deemed responsible for Peterborough’s second goal on Saturday.

‘To compound it one idiotic young boy – I can’t even call him a man – has compromised the team with his behavioural standards and we find ourselves 2-0 down with a mountain to climb,’ Barton said about Thomas after the match.

‘I can’t fault the other 10 players or the lads that came off the bench because they kept plugging away and kept pushing.

‘Unless we man up – and I know you have to be careful saying that in the modern era – and absolutely eradicate these weak, feeble-minded individuals that are currently inside our unit, we won’t get promoted out of this division.

‘Luke reported his hamstring was tight one minute before we were going out. He got told to test it and said ‘no, I’m fine’.

‘The ball is down his side and he said his hamstring has gone so we were about to make a substitution.

‘But, in his infinite wisdom, he goes to press the ball and completely exposes Jack Hunt.

‘We should do better after that, but we find ourselves 2-0 down – all because someone hasn’t got the mindset required to make the correct call to keep the team strong.

‘I’m frustrated, disappointed and gutted for the travelling fans who came in their numbers and I think anyone who has been here today will see we were more than a match for Peterborough.

‘We didn’t get that little bit of luck and we were sabotaged from within with an idiotic decision by Luke.

‘The thing that’s really annoyed me is at 1-0 I still really fancied us.

‘I thought we were the better side and said to the lads at half-time that Peterborough had scored against the run of play.

‘The frustrating thing for me is because of an idiotic decision we find ourselves 2-0 down and they had something to hang onto.

‘We’ve had a right go at them, but we couldn’t find that breakthrough and it’s three points dropped because we’re better than them.’

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