By Tim Stannard

1) Bilic sacked by West Ham who make move for David Moyes

Saturday saw an air of doom and gloom over the now former West Ham United coach, Slaven Bilic, after the home drubbing by Liverpool that left the London club in the Premier League relegation zone with just nine points from 11 games.

To be fair, the Croatian has a permanent air of doom and gloom surrounding him like a dark thunder cloud, even if he was on the pleasing end of the world’s most thrilling surprise birthday party featuring unlimited singing and dancing action from Justin Timberlake. That look of ‘root canal in one hour’ never left Bilic.

 
Bilic knew on Saturday that his time at West Ham was up, and so it came to pass with the club firing the 49-year-old on Monday morning. “It's a very logical move,” admitted the morose manager as he left the training center having been given the news. The Hammers are now officially on the hunt for “a quality manager to the position to inject fresh ideas, organization and enthusiasm,” according to a statement.
 
That manager is set to be David Moyes, last season taking Sunderland into the Championship after a fairly ragged relegation battle last season. Out of the frowning firepan and into the frowning fire, says Sports Burst.
 
2) Dembele’s target of a Clasico comeback  
 
A bit of Barcelona and what-might-have-been-and-what-was for a fairly slow news day on Monday now that with clubs are going into hibernation for the international break. Barcelona may have Ousmane Dembele back for the Holiday Clasico with Real Madrid on 23rd December, after rupturing a tendon in September.
 
However, it is thought that Ernesto Valverde will not be taking any chances on the player returning too early, now that he has the free-scoring Paco Alcacer at his disposal.

 
Meanwhile, current Roma Sporting Director, Monchi, has revealed that Barcelona failed in a bid to sign Leicester City playmaker, Riyad Mahrez, over the summer. The reason the Spaniard knows that is that his own club wanted the Algerian international too to replace Mohamed Salah. “The club didn’t want to sell him,” mused Monchi.
 
Remember to tune into the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT to find out who won the weekend between Team Messi and Team Ronaldo. Two bald men fighting over a comb vibe about that one today. That show is followed by the Locker Room who will be asking what exactly is going on with Karim Benzema.
 
3) USMNT fight club in play-off pugilism
 
Sunday evening was a busy one in the world of US soccer on this side of the pond. Well…FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! But more on that in a second.
 
MLS sorted out its conference play-off finals. The biggest shock of the night saw the Houston Dynamo continuing a fine sporting week for the city by beating Portland Timbers 2-1 for an aggregate win that takes the side through to a clash with Seattle Sounders.

 
Andrea Pirlo potentially played his final game as a footballer. Despite NYCFC beating Columbus Crew 2-0 in New York, it was not enough to turn over a first leg deficit.
 
The crew will now play Toronto FC, who were in involved in a heck of scuffle with NY Red Bulls with USMNT teammates, Sacha Kljestan and Jozy Altidore having a bit of a halftime tunnel tiff that saw both footballers sent off, after an on the pitch ‘altercation’ during a heated game.

 
4) Heat face Warriors and race to bottom in Green Bay
 
Brawls was also a major feature of NFL this weekend as well…but with big pads. The action…and hopefully some scuffles continue on Monday night with the Green Bay Packers hosting the Detroit Lions and looking to avoid a third straight loss against an outfit that has contrived to lose four from the last five games.

 
The NBA has the glamor battle between the Miami Heat at the Golden State Warriors.
 
WHAT IS SPORTS BURST?
The life philosophy of Sports Burst is that if you are not upsetting someone, then you are not trying hard enough. SB is a daily trawl and troll through the morning's sports news to bring you fact-nuggets to make you both smile and swear. Hopefully at the same time.