Newcastle United 0 Manchester City 2. Goals from Edin Dzeko and Alvaro Negredo took City to the top of the Premier League after a feisty encounter at St James' Park that will be best remembered for an astonishing loss of control from Alan Pardew.
The Magpies boss went cuckoo after referee Mike Jones disallowed a Cheick Tiote strike in the first half. Tiote's teammate Yoan Gouffran, who was in an offside position, was ruled to have blocked the vision of City keeper Joe Hart as Tiote's thunderbolt flew into the net and the goal was ruled out after a conflab between Jones and his assistant Stephen Child.
Newcastle went nuts with fans, players and the backroom staff venting their fury at the officials. No one was more incensed than Pardew, who minutes later kicked the ball away from Pablo Zabaleta as the City star went to take a throw-in. Sky Blues' boss Manuel Pellegrini took exception to Pardew's petulance, and told him so, only to receive an earful from his counterpart.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
When TV replayed the incident in slow motion, it didn't require the services of a professional lip-reader to see that Pardew had called the e 60-year-old Chilean, a "f****** old c***".
Shocked to learn afterwards that his foul-mouthed moment of madness had been caught by TV cameras and was going global, Pardew said: "I hear that what I said has been picked up... It was a heat of the moment thing, words that we always have as managers, to a degree. I've apologised to him and I'm fortunate that he's accepted that.
"You know, we always tease each other and have words. What he said to me is going to remain private, but it didn't merit my response, to be honest."
Pellegrini did his best to brush aside the controversy, telling reporters: "I don't know what he said [but] I'm not surprised. It is impossible to complain at every referee decision during the match. I know they are playing at home and they have advantage but it is impossible. That is why I had a problem with Alan but it is nothing important."
As for the disallowed goal that lit the fuse, Pellegrini was adamant the officials had got it right. "It was a valid decision. The player was clearly offside."
Pardew had a different take on the matter, however, his frustration still palpable as he explained why: "My point was did he think Gouffran was interfering with Joe Hart and he said that 'he was in the six yard box'. I get that, the guy was recovering from an offside position but he didn't want anything to do with the play. He was not interfering with Joe Hart's vision. In fact it goes on the inside of him, it was City players impeding Joe's vision, not Gouffran."
Amid all the f-ing and blinding was the fact that City's sixth consecutive league victory took them into pole position although Arsenal could regain top spot if they beat Aston Villa tonight.
On an otherwise satisfying day for Pellegrini the only blight was a knee injury to Samir Nasri - the result of a dreadful tackle from Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa that deserved a red card - that the City manager fears could be "serious" .
