Des Norris

Moyes Hammered on all sides

Watching David Wagner being tossed towards the night sky at Stamford Bridge following Huddersfield’s heroic survival-clinching effort on Wednesday would have warmed even the iciest of footballing hearts. And for those mean-spirited cynics amongst you whose veins didn't thaw even slightly at the sight of a crowd of Terriers showering a jovial German with affection, Sports Burst wants nothing to do with you quite frankly. Unless that is your name happens to be David Moyes.

No such veneration was afforded the steely-eyed Scot last weekend when his Hammers rubber-stamped their Premier League slip for another season. And this despite the London club looking like relegation fodder when the Moe Szyslak doppelganger took charge back in December, not to mention the continual presence of Joe Hart (JOE HART!) between the sticks. If anything, the prevailing sense at West Ham is that fans are fed up with their coach knight in shining armor. Ingrates! 

West Ham’s beleaguered manager has been through the wringer in recent years. Forced to leave his beloved Everton by way of a Don Fergie offer he couldn’t refuse and predictably failing to emulate his demigod of a compatriot; then seeking refuge at Real Sociedad only to be tactically exposed; returning to England to take charge of Sunderland only to be tactically exposed again; before accepting the thankless task of cleaning up Slaven Bilic’s mess and keeping tabs on Andy Carroll. 

Ahead of Thursday’s not-so-clutch match against former club Manchester United, the worldweary 55-year-old reminded everyone who’d listen of his Premier League managerial chops: “For most of my seasons, apart from one last year, I’ve been competing at the top six or eight. I need to see if West Ham are going to get there. I want to be a manager pushing the top six or eight. you need the tools for that. I want to give the supporters what they crave.”

In a not-so-veiled message to the West Ham board, Moyes then proceeded to wax lyrical about his upcoming opponents: “I can only ever say good things about Manchester United because I respect the club so much and what they stand for, and just how good a football club it is.” 

Tune into the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT where Gary Bailey will bring you all the fallout from the the clash between Louis van Gaal’s predecessor and successor.

Atleti’s Kun-tingency plan 

Helpless in the face of an endless stream of Antoine Griezmann to Barcelona stories, Atletico Madrid have lined up a replacement for the Fortnite-playing Frenchman. And the name being banded about by Marca is none other than former Rojiblanco favorite Sergio Aguero.

Reports suggest the club has approached the Manchester City star with the hopes of luring him back to the Spanish capital to play the role of good cop to compliment the Dirty Harry on roids persona Diego Costa will be continuing for the 2018/19 season. 

Across town, at the home of the European champions, Borja Mayoral is keeping his cards close to his chest where his Real Madrid future is concerned. 

After coming off the bench to salvage a bit of pride for Los Blancos at the Sanchez Pizjuan on Wednesday, the Spanish striker refused to give a definitive answer when quizzed on a potential summer move to rid his backside of Bernabeu bench sores.

Although seldom called upon by Zinedine Zidane, the 21-year-old is Madrid’s second most effective goalscorer, finding the back of the onion bag every 129 minutes. But just ask Alvaro Morata, Javier Hernandez or Michael Owen what a good goals-to-minutes ratio gets you at Real Madrid. 

Maria, you gotta see her

Hold your horses, we're not leaving Madrid just yet. Not without getting through the full slate of women's singles quarter-final action at the Madrid Open we're not. 

Defending champion and world number one Simona Halep was sent packing in the early hours of this morning by Karolina Pliskova, while the comeback queen of the Spanish clay, Carla Suarez Navarro, had no answers for Caroline Garcia.

Depending on when you read this, there might still be time to catch Maria Sharapova take on Carolina Wozniacki-slayer Kiki Bertens. 

Watch all the WTA action at the Madrid Open on beIN SPORTS and beIN SPORTS CONNECT.

Philly falls from the bracket

The last remaining second-round NBA playoff series ended with a thrilling, back-and-forth slugfest of a game as the Boston Celtics finished off the Philadelphia 76ers, 114-112, in game five of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Six players scored in double-digits for Boston, led by 25 from star rookie Jayson Tatum.

While the Celtics/Sixers series may have been a glimpse into the future of the Eastern Conference, Boston advances to face the Eastern Conference’s gatekeeper of the last decade: Lebron James.

James’ teams, whether in Miami or Cleveland, have won the Eastern Conference the past seven seasons. The last time James didn’t advance to the NBA Finals? When he and the Cavaliers lost to none other than the Celtics in 2010. Injuries will rob us of the Kyrie Irving vs. his former team narrative, but this rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference finals should still be an interesting battle of old vs. new - can the upstart Celtics topple the King and his more aged Cavaliers. Game one of the Eastern Conference Finals tips at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Western Conference finals, which don’t start until Monday, provide another matchup that has seemed destined all year: the defending champion Golden State Warriors against No. 1 overall seed Houston Rockets. It’s a clash of styles, though both high-octane, with the free-flowing motion of Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and the Warriors against the trigger-happy isolation play of James Harden, Chris Paul and the Rockets.

Houston has home court and did win two of three regular-season meetings, but as with LeBron in the East, all roads to the Finals out west go through Golden State until someone proves otherwise.

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. Sports Burst 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.