Paper Talk: Barton at it again, Gunners flaw exposed, RVP all Man U, Messi's other talent On a weekend Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham and Arsenal stumble, Robin van Persie heads Manchester United to a crunch 1-0 win. It's the headline act in a bumper edition of Good, Bad & Ugly. A full wrap of all of the round 11 EPL action. Van Persie celebrates, Barton at it again, Messi's other sporting talent. IT was another massive weekend in football around the world, with Joey Barton back in the headlines, RVP haunting his old club and Leo Messi showing off his other sporting talents. It's all in Paper Talk: Weekend Washup. English football's most notorious bad boy Joey Barton is back in the headlines, this time for a bizarre off the ball incident with former Newcastle teamate Danny Guthrie. Playing for QPR against Reading at the weekend, Barton literally stuck the boot in when Guthrie went to ground in the closing stages of their 1-1 draw. In an incident that was missed by the referee but captured by TV cameras, the Hoops midfielder took the chance to throw a water bottle towards Guthrie's groin area, before planting his studs on his old pal. In different circumstances Barton's actions could have caused a blow up between the two sides but Guthrie appeared to see the funny side of Barton's antics and was soon back on his feet. The pair spent three years together on Tyneside and were part of the side which won promotion from the Championship in 2009. Manchester United's win over Arsenal has Fleet Street reassessing the Premier League's true contenders this season, and the widely held belief has become that without January reinforcements up front, the Gunners won't be in the conversation in April and May next year. While Arsenal top the table after 11 rounds, and have taken some big scalps along the way, they've done it on the back of an incredible (and probably unsustainable) goal scoring run from midfielder Aaron Ramsey as well as a high quality contribution from Olivier Giroud. When there's no Giroud, it's often the much-criticised Nicklas Bendtner who fills the breach. Compare that to Liverpool's SAS, Manchester City's Sergio Aguero backed up by the excellent Alvaro Negredo and Eden Djeko, Chelsea's Samuel Eto'o and Fernando Torres or Manchester United's incredible stable of Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck and Javier Hernandez and you start to see why Gunners fans might be concerned. He's the best football player in the world but in a video captured at Barcelona training, Lionel Messi has shown his skills don't end with the beautiful game. Watch this clip to see how Messi might fare on a basketball court, albeit using his head, not his hands. Ashley Young was left out of Manchester United's squad in their 1-0 win over Arsenal and it appears it may have come as punishment for his dive that won United a penalty in their Champions League fixture last week. United manager David Moyes has been a vocal critic of acting in football and has previously pulled Young into line when he was yellow carded for a dive earlier this season. While Moyes last week defended his winger, it's been reported that he was privately fuming with Young's conduct. And with the emergence of precocious talent Adnan Januzaj pushing Young to the periphery, it could be that the former Villa man is on his way out of Old Trafford. When Robin van Persie gave Manchester United the lead in the 27th minute against Arsenal he turned and celebrated like he had played for them his entire career. It was a marked change of attitude since he last scored against his former club, and perhaps indicated the star striker was rankled by Arsene Wenger's claims that the flying Dutchman was a Gunners man through and through. In the lead-up to Sunday's game Wenger said he "still sees Van Persie as an Arsenal player" and that was reflected in a comment Van Persie made after scoring against the club at which he spent eight years last November. "I played there eight years and had a fantastic time there," Van Persie said at the time. I have respect for the fans, the players, the manager and the whole club. Perhaps less so now. Wayne Rooney was at a crossroads in the off-season, even asking for a transfer when he was constantly played out of position towards the end of Sir Alex Ferguson's tenure. Fast forward a few months, and according to Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher, the England striker is the only reason United have stayed in the hunt for the title. "Rooney is the reason why they're only five points behind this season because United have been poor," Carragher said after the superstar's superb performance against Arsenal. It's not the vintage United we've seen of old and there are a lot of players who haven't performed, but he's the one who's dragged Man United up there, virtually single-handedly at times. You look at the technical players in the opposition - Ozil and Ramsey - but Rooney brings that power and endurance, he's a typical Premier League player and that's why he is one of the top players in our league and with Manchester United. We've spoken a lot this season about partnerships and top strikers but I think United have got some of the best strikers in European football and Rooney's right up there with the best of them. His performance today with some of the players on show - he was the best player by a mile. There's been plenty of hype around the film showcasing six of Manchester United's stars from its famed Class of 92, and here's a little preview to show just what it will be all about... Jose Mourinho has never been much of a David Luiz fan, and after giving the Brazilian stopper a chance to win him over to start this season, the Portugese manager is ready to cut him loose. The Blues twice turned down bids from Barcelona in the summer - even though the second offer moved to Pound35million. At the time, Jose Mourinho wanted to fully assess the squad he was taking over but his initial thoughts that the Brazilian was too flashy and a defensive risk have now been confirmed in the manager's mind. Barca are likely to come again for Luiz in January, and this time there will be no resistance from Mourinho. Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been in hot form of late, and he was at it again at the weekend, with a superb hat-trick against the hapless Nice. Ibra's contribution, highlights of which you can see here, helped PSG to a 3-1 win over their Ligue 1 opponents. They're sitting pretty in third on the Premier League table and are the pride of the league but Southampton have left plenty of commentators with egg on their face. While Argentinian manager Mauricio Pochettino has been the success story of the season, it wasn't long ago that he faced a huge amount of resistance by critics who believed that his installment, along with Southampton's sale to foreign owners, had stripped the club of its very English DNA. This was Rob Draper, writing for The Mail on Sunday: "They're the poster club for the FA commission and ironically they're owned by foreigners and managed by foreigners. There was a huge outcry when just over a year ago an English coach lost his job and an Argentine was transposed in there and you felt like they were losing the DNA of the club. People were saying 'it's changing and it's not going to be English anymore', but actually Pochettino and Nicola Cortese the owner are very strong in saying that they want English players in here. But they've stuck to their word and I think one of the key things that the commission will look at is, 'how do you give game time to young English players?' And that's what Southampton are doing. They're giving Premier League game to time to some talented English players and that's allowing them to get to the level that they can get in to the England squad, whereas some of their counterparts at the bigger clubs can't get the game time and have fallen off the radar. Juventus stars Andrea Pirlo and Paul Pogba have taught Napoli a lesson as they starred in the Old Lady's 3-0 league win at the weekend. Typically, Pirlo was in everything, and capped his performance with a stunning goal from a free kick, while Pogba sealed the game with a blistering volley. Here's a sample of the Pirlo and Pogba show. Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas accused Saint-Etienne goalkeeper Stephane Ruffier of hitting him in the back at the end of an explosive French Ligue 1 derby on Sunday. Lyon won the 107th Rhone clash between the two sides, 2-1 thanks to an injury time winner from Jimmy Briand but the game was overshadowed by a series of unsavoury incidents. "Stephane Ruffier hit me violently in the back at the end of the match," Aulas told French TV. One of our medical staff made a remark on the way to the changing rooms. Fabrice Grange, who is a former Lyon man, saw fit to clash with our doctor," claimed Aulas. When I tried to separate them, Stephane Ruffier dealt me a blow in the back. The atmosphere at the Geoffroy-Guichard ground was already tense before kick-off. Lyon's goalkeeper coach Joel Bats tied a Lyon scarf to one of the goals which riled Saint-Etienne fans, some of whom spilled onto the pitch. "Joel was right to do that," insisted Aulas who believed it was correct following a ban on Lyon supporters travelling to the game. "We should have tied a black armband," he added. Italy has had its fair share of football scandal in recent years and on the weekend another bizarre incident caused a match to be abandoned in farcical circumstances. Nocerina have forfeited their Italian third tier match against Salernitana after eight players feigned injuries following pre-game death threats from fans. After getting death threats from their own fans in the lead-up to a local derby with Salernitana, third-tier side Nocerina at first refused to start the game, delaying kick-off for two hours, before enough players feigned injury in the opening 20 minutes to cause the side to be reduced to six men - an automatic forfeit. "This is a terrible page in the history of football," said Salernitana coach Carlo Perrone. We need to ask ourselves how this could've happened. I am a man of sport and right now feel terribly disappointed.