The Nicolas Anelka school of charm

Nice to see Nicolas Anelka is settling in well at Real Madrid, and has formed as loving a relationship with the Spanish press as he had with their English counterparts. "I don't like seeing my picture in the paper every day and if it doesn't stop I will stop talking to the press. I don't like all the agitation that surrounds Spanish football," said the chirpy one last week, who, it seems, is missing Fleet Street and Wapping already.

Anelka has been substituted by manager John Toshack in his first two (goalless) games for Real, hence the early falling out with the Madrid hacks. "The goals will come when they come, I don't worry about that. I don't care what people say, I play the way I play. I don't listen to anyone. I amuse myself on the field." (Having spent £17 million on the lad, Toshack would probably like him to amuse himself by scoring goals).

And remember his criticism of Marc Overmars and Dennis Bergkamp, his Arsenal colleagues who, he claimed, never passed the ball to him? "They (Raul Gonzalez and Fernando Morientes) know each other really well. They are not great players, but players who always give each other the ball," he said of his new team-mates. Is there a trend developing here?