There are all manner of big stories knocking around in football land this morning, up to and including major international news forcing its way in.<\/p>\n
Yet in some corners of the football media the biggest stories to be found are some tish-and-fipsy social media \u2018backlash\u2019 and a long-retired footballer having some drinks.<\/p>\n
Sometimes it\u2019s hard to shake the notion that to a large extent we deserve to be on this execrable timeline.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kiss and tell<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll be delighted to learn that volumes have been spoken. This time by Virgil van Dijk during Liverpool\u2019s 5-2 win over West Ham<\/a>.<\/p>\n Virgil van Dijk moment in West Ham win speaks volumes about Liverpool captain<\/p>\n You, a fool, might think that the Van Dijk moment that spoke volumes might be the fact he scored his third goal in six Premier League games, or the fact he racked up yet another 90 minutes in a season where the 34-year-old\u2019s workload is almost unmatched by any other player in the division<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Daily Mirror\u2019s Andy Dunn, an intellectual, knows better.<\/p>\n As if it were needed,\u00a0Virgil van Dijk\u00a0gave the Kop an old-fashioned reminder of his love for the club. He has always seemed too cool to be a badge-kisser but that is what it looked like the captain was doing after his header provided early confirmation of an incoming\u00a0Liverpool\u00a0win.<\/p>\n Yes, we all definitely needed to see Van Dijk kiss the Liverpool badge to be reassured he has some fondness for the club where he became the best defender in the world and won the sport\u2019s biggest trophies.<\/p>\n But what\u2019s this about him seeming \u2018too cool\u2019 to be a badge-kisser? We\u2019re not even really sure what that means. Is badge-kissing\u2026uncool? Mediawatch, to its shame, realises we\u2019ve never given that vital question a moment\u2019s thought either way. Now we can think of little else.<\/p>\n What we do know, though, is that if it is uncool, Van Dijk is not \u2018too cool\u2019 to do it. It\u2019s not even the first time he\u2019s kissed the badge after scoring a Premier League goal against West Ham at Anfield in the last 12 months.<\/p>\n Dunn\u2019s Reach stablemates Liverpool.com had that story last April. Back then, of course, it didn\u2019t just speak volumes but was a \u2018contract hint\u2019.<\/p>\n Virgil van Dijk might have dropped a contract hint with\u00a0his goal celebration against West Ham, as he made a point of kissing the\u00a0Liverpool\u00a0crest on his jersey in front of the Kop.<\/p>\n And as if by magic, just four days later, that contract extension was confirmed. All because he was willing to lose cool points by kissing the badge.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n World in motion<\/p>\n Sometimes we find it helps to allow yourself one small chuckle at the bad things that happen.<\/p>\n One such instance arrives thanks to the Mirror as they address the fact that Iran and by extension several other countries really might this week decide to withdraw from the World Cup due to it being hosted in the USA, whose warmongering leader was recently given a peace prize by the very people who organise the World Cup.<\/p>\n We really have been cursed to live upon the very worst timeline.<\/p>\n It\u2019s obviously very bad. And what the Mirror have done is write a perfectly safe and entirely valid listicle detailing previous examples of countries withdrawing from World Cups for whatever reason.<\/p>\n What they\u2019ve then done is put it under this headline.<\/p>\n Every country to withdraw from World Cup as Iran \u2018ready\u2019 to boycott USA 2026<\/p>\n The situation is certainly bad, chaps, but we don\u2019t think it\u2019s quite at the stage suggested by the (we assume deliberate) ambiguity contained within.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n X rated<\/p>\n Mediawatch has long since given up trying to understand news values in the year of someone\u2019s lord 2026, but there are still sometimes choices and decisions that we simply cannot get our old-man-yelling-at-clouds head around.<\/p>\n We can think of many justifiable lead football stories this morning. The title race<\/a>. Manchester United\u2019s continued resurgence under Michael Carrick<\/a>. Tottenham\u2019s relegation fears<\/a> and Igor Tudor\u2019s post-match meltdown at Fulham<\/a>.<\/p>\n And if you want to look beyond the bagatelle of this daft little game itself, yes, the fact the World Cup could absolutely be plunged into pure chaos by mounting geopolitical tensions.<\/p>\n These all feel valid.<\/p>\n But the top football story this morning according to that bastion of reason and good old-fashioned common sense (not that common these days, though, is it guys, what with all the wokes and snowflakes, eh?!) the Daily Express?<\/p>\n The Premier League\u2019s X-formerly-Twitter account deleting a banter post that mildly took a small amount of piss out of Guglielmo Vicario.<\/p>\n Premier League blasted for mocking Tottenham star with sarcastic post after Fulham defeat<\/p>\n