Anelka grins when he wins

TRENDY blue bottles of fizzy water are reserved for the manager’s table at post-match press conferences at West Bromwich Albion and Luiz Felipe Scolari could not resist a joke, pointing an enquiring index finger and asking: “Aladdin?”

When he finally unscrewed the bottle top, he recoiled in mock surprise as if a genie had emerged in a puff of smoke.

All very genial stuff for the cameras, but with far more relevance than he probably realises. For bottle, read a relatively untapped source of French genius and for the genie, substitute Nicolas Anelka.