PENALTY SPOTS
Sergio Aguero is known for many things: being Diego Maradona's son-in-law, glorying in the nickname Kun and being producer of Quarantine 2: Terminal, the poster of which features a terrified looking female passenger being scared in an aeroplane with preposterously large windows*. Unlike some of his footballing brethren, one thing Sergio Aguero is not renowned for is being a whining, moaning, prissy malcontent who's always grumbling about perceived injustices. So when Manchester City's vastly experienced Argentinian striker feels compelled to politely make an observation on the state of the game, the Fiver feels similarly moved to listen.
In the wake of Manchester City's late win against Fulham, Aguero suggested that, when it comes to the awarding of penalties, foreigners tend to get treated more strictly by referees than home-grown players in countries all over the world and that leagues in the UK are no exception. "It happens everywhere," he said. "There is a little bit of privilege with players who come from that country, but that is normal. We just play our game, and the referee's job is to know who is tricking him and who is not."
Aguero's comments came in the wake of a match in which his Argentinian compatriot Carlos Tevez was denied an obvious penalty after being floored in the Fulham penalty area, while his team-mate Pablo Zabaleta also had a half-decent appeal for a spot-kick rejected. Sadly, Aguero's argument was somewhat undermined by the fact that the one penalty awarded in the match went to Fulham's John Arne Riise, who despite being as Norwegian as Vikings, lutefisk and raucous black metal tunesmiths Gorgoroth, still managed to gull referee Mark Halsey with a preposterously theatrical triple axle with pike. Still, with his ginger hair and pasty complexion, it's hardly inconceivable that the official mistook him for a Brit.
Meanwhile at Carrow Road, Brendan Rodgers celebrated his side's shellacking of Norwich City to voice his own concerns about the non-awarding of penalties to Luis Suarez, from Uruguay, whose reputation for diving he fears is influencing match officials. "There is that fear," he said. "There are players, attacking players who go down at times. I can't worry too much about it. It's something that hopefully the referees, when they assess and analyse their own performance, they have to look at it … and hopefully those penalties that we don't get won't come back to haunt us."
A smart man, there's every possibility that Rodgers is flagging up the issue in a bid to sow a seed in the minds of referees and influence them in his own little way. As methods of winning penalties go it's certainly more discreet than that of his wily striker, but only time will tell if it yields better results.
* May be a different Sergio Aguero.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"I am against diving, absolutely. It's something we should eradicate from the game. It's probably not easy but if there's anything that can be done then we are for it" - Wise words from Roberto Di Matteo. Wonder if David Luiz and Branislav Ivanovic were listening?
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FIVER LETTERS
"Does anyone else have a player they know deep down isn't great, but will always stick up for regardless? I'll start the ball rolling with Darren Bent. I know he can't hold the ball up, or link up play particularly well either, but there's just something about him that is always hinting that 75 minutes of Invisible Man anonymity and running down blind alleys will be cancelled out with something special" - Michael Jones.
"U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S....eh?" - Brian Ross-Meering.
Send your letters to the.boss@guardian.co.uk. And if you've nothing better to do you can also tweet the Fiver.
BITS AND BOBS
Following in the footsteps of Paul Scholes, another Manchester United legend has returned to the club: Mikael Silvestre. Unfortunately for makers of blooper programmes, he's only training in order to stay fit.
Speaking of which, Jonny Evans has recovered from a dead leg he suffered against Tottenham in time for tomorrow's Big Cup match against CFR Cluj. However Scholes, Michael Carrick and Ryan Giggs have been left at home, not that anyone's going to notice there's no one in midfield.
The Rovers Trust has called on the Blackburn Rovers' owners Venky's to build bridges with supporters after the resignation of Steve Kean Out.
And Jimmy Bullard will have more time to hone his Phil Brown impression after retiring from football due to a long-standing knee injury.
STILL WANT MORE?
Our writers come up with a whopping 10 talking points from the weekend's action in the Premier League.
Donald McRae talks to Watford's manager Gianfranco Zola about how he's rediscovered his passion for football.
Sid Lowe on how Barcelona fought back against Sevilla with a bit of help from the referee.
Zdenek Zeman's Roma fell flat against Juventus, writes Paolo Bandini.
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