With the £7.5m compensation sorted Luiz Felipe Scolari has had his say on what went wrong at Chelsea and surprise, surprise the Brazilian is taking the tried and tested "It's not my fault" approach.

A number of UK tabloids, including The Daily Star and The Daily Mail have picked up on an interview given by Scolari to France Football two days before he was sacked.

Now, whether Scolari knew for certain that he was about to be canned is unclear, but the tone of the interview suggests he knew the gig was up.

In fact The Independent claim that a clause in the compensation deal includes a gagging order preventing Scolari from telling it like it was.

Either way it didn't stop him pointing out in the interview that he lacked a "family relationship" with his players, or that the squad lacked talent - never the best way to engender good morale.

Scolari said "At Chelsea we don't have the player who can make the difference by himself", maybe so, but you don't say that! The Brazilian also bemoaned the club's failure to land Robinho, ripped into Malouda, saying "He doesn't make the difference in games any longer" and suggested that Drogba is "missing something".

In many ways it's lucky he got the sack before the interview came out - one can't imagine Scolari getting the best out of his side after making public such scathing views.

Elsewhere on a day a little short on the usual baseless speculation and conjecture, there are more reports that David Beckham is poised to complete his move to AC Milan.

The saga is approaching its denouement with the MLS having set a deadline of, well, anytime now for a deal to be done.

The Sun report that Milan have doubled their original bid to LA Galaxy to £10.5m, if they accept, Becks' move to the Rossoneri could be announced ahead of Sunday's Milan derby with Inter - quite the fillip for what could a crucial match in the Serie A title race.

The Telegraph, Daily Express and Independent report that Spurs misfit Darren Bent has issued Harry Redknapp with a "play me or I'll quit" ultimatum. I'd started packing my stuff if I were you, Daz.

The Times report that Manchester City boss Mark Hughes has warned Daniel Sturridge that, despite the club's financial backing, they will not be held to ransom by the highly-rated young striker.

The 19-year-old striker is out of contract at the end of the season and is demanding his wages be hiked to £60k-a-week if he's to sign a new deal - £20k more than City's offer.

Finally, Sven-Goran Eriksson is David James' choice to takeover at Pompey and has said so to The Mirror (and the vast majority of the papers), insisting that the keeper says Sven "commands respect" and would be the ideal candidate to arrest the club's slide down the league.

Although the Swede has said he is committed to Mexico a juicy offer might tempt him to quit a role he is struggling in. The latest poor result for Sven as 'El Tri' boss came this week as they lost 2-0 against the US in a crucial World Cup qualifier.