Alan Pardew: "I back Joey Barton's comments one hundred per cent, and we talked about it afterwards.
"I have worked with Chris and he can feel very, very unfortunate that he is not sitting here now.
"But we all know this game is not easy and can be cruel at times.
"I had a very similar issue at Southampton.
"But I was conscious that when I left Southampton, they lost three games, so I really wanted to focus the team today.
"It was very, very important, whoever the manager was, that they represented themselves and the club in the right manner, and they did that and more.
"I popped up to see Mike Ashley to say hello. He was obviously pleased with the result because it's not been probably the best week he has ever had.
"But the win today was really about the players because they showed their spirit and their unity out there and they made it easy for me just to add a couple of things.
"But a lot of the good things that went on today was stuff that has been going on here all year."