AZ Alkmaar and Ajax thrash around in the snow during their Dutch league match. Photograph: Olaf Kraak/EPA
Rather than tackling pertinent problems such as video-replays for referees on offside goals, football’s executives think it best to distract us by solving non-issues on the periphery of the sport instead. National B-squads for example. Once a fixture of [...]

Alan Pardew departed The Valley after a stinker against Sheffield United. Photograph: Daniel Hambury/EMPICS Sport/PA Photos
What wasn’t to like about the weekend? Australia’s rugby league players were thrashed by the Kiwis in the World Cup final, temperatures across the country soared to a balmy –37C and Oasis finally broke America by standing behind Ricky Hatton [...]

The decline and fall of William Gallas, ex-Arsenal captain. Photographs: Lee Mills/Action Images (whose entire portfolio seems to show Gallas in distress).
3pm: Peeps ring out across the country and We. Are. Go.
2.50pm: It’s a shambles. Again. We just had a power failure here on two computers and a telly, which means Paolo Bandini is having [...]

The four faces of contemporary male modelling: Derek Zoolander (pose: Blue Steel), Tom Lutz (???), Scott Murray (???) and Carlos Tevez (WTF?). Photographs: Melinda Sue Gordon/Christian Sinibaldi/Sam Frost/Tom Jenkins
Some links
• Some footage the two Serbian wunderfoetii apparently set to join Manchester United
• Highlights of a classic encounter between these sides in 1994, infused with genuine [...]

Berbatov leaves the pitch during the defeat in Serbia. Photograph: Marko Djurica/Reuters
The Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov has become the centre of controversy in his native Bulgaria after his angry agent suggested the player could retire from international football because of criticism of his performances.
Last month several players, including Berbatov, were lambasted by the Bulgarian [...]

France forward Steve Savidan has the chance to cement his place in Raymond Domenech’s squad. Photograph: Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images
“Imagine if it works. Imagine if I hit two goals just like I’ve dreamed of doing since I was a kid. Where’s the risk in trying? If I don’t fit in, I’ll toddle back to where I [...]

Frustration for Arsène Wenger. Photograph: Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images
On a weekend in which the Premier League’s fixture computer was found more wanting than any number of children in need, Arsenal against Aston Villa was always likely to be the most intriguing encounter. The meeting of two Premier League sides consistent only in their maddening inconsistency [...]

Steven Gerrard will miss England’s friendly against Germany. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA
Steven Gerrard has been ruled out of England’s friendly with Germany in Berlin on Wednesday after tearing a leg muscle during Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Bolton yesterday.
The vice-captain has been ruled out for seven to 10 days so could return in time for Liverpool’s next [...]

Drogba throws an object back at Burnley fans. Photograph: Scott Heavey/Action Images
The Metropolitan police and the Football Association are both to investigate last night’s incident at Stamford Bridge when the Chelsea striker Didier Drogba threw an object back at Burnley fans during their Carling Cup tie. Drogba gestured at the visiting supporters and threw what [...]

Arsenal fans at the Emirates Stadium. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/Guardian
Andy Walsh is chairman of FC United of Manchester, the club founded in 2005 as a protest at the takeover of Manchester United by the Glazer family in a deal that saddled Old Trafford with a mammoth amount of debt. Yesterday, speaking in Zurich at the International [...]