It's reading the stuff in the media about "will Barton start, will he not" now that I appreciate what a masterstroke Keegan pulled when he brought Barton on against Arsenal. There's no tripe about him getting his first appearance out of jail, or about how fans will react, or anything like that.
In fact, they seem to have stopped the ethic questioning they were piling on a few months ago. And Barton coming back in a Tyne-Wear derby means the limelight is off him quite a bit, as this is our 'most important game' etc.