The Los Angeles Chargers have fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and quarterbacks coach Shane Day following their dismal playoff defeat to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Pressure had been building on underperforming Chargers coach Brandon Staley even before he oversaw a 27-point collapse in a stunning Wild Card loss on Saturday.

Lombardi and Day, who came in alongside Staley in 2021, have paid the price for that early exit, the team announced on Tuesday.

Led by Justin Herbert, the Chargers should have the talent to be a contender in the AFC, but the third-year quarterback is yet to win a playoff game.

Indeed, the Jaguars clash represented Herbert's postseason debut, and he looked to be on course for an impressive win after racing into a 27-0 lead.

But the Chargers added just three points in the second half as they lost 31-30, undone as so often by their subpar run game, which yielded only 20 yards and a single first down from eight carries after halftime.

That makes for an obvious area for improvement under the next OC, who will surely relish the opportunity to work with Herbert.

Milan coach Stefano Pioli dismissed the suggestion his team are suffering from a lack of "hunger" as they prepare to face city rivals Inter in Wednesday's Supercoppa Italiana.

The Rossoneri have not won any of their previous three games as they threw away a 2-0 lead in a 2-2 draw with Roma, found themselves dumped out of the Coppa Italia by 10-man Torino, and then had to fight back from 2-0 down just to rescue a point at Lecce.

Although in that period they have moved above Juventus in the Serie A table to take ownership of second, Milan are now nine points behind leaders Napoli.

Much of the build-up to the Supercoppa has been centred around Milan and Inter – who are a point further back in Serie A – requiring a trophy success to boost their respective title chances.

But the suggestion Milan are less motivated than last year did not sit well with Pioli, who said: "How does such a young team that has only won on trophy not be hungry?

"There's only one thing we can control: the quality of our game. If we lower the quality, it becomes difficult to win games. It's not a question of having a 'full stomach'."

In fact, Pioli recognises Wednesday's game in Riyadh as an opportunity to have continuity in terms of success, with Milan hoping last season's Serie A title triumph was the start of a successful new era rather than a flash in the pan.

"It's an important match. We have the chance to win another trophy, it would mean giving continuity to the path we started," Pioli added.

"We know that the last week or so hasn't been the best, but tomorrow is a game in itself, like every other derby is.

"There is a trophy up for grabs and this raises the level of the match, and so we have to raise our level."

The idea that Supercoppa success could be a catalyst was also put to Pioli's counterpart, Simone Inzaghi.

Inter's board has reportedly made it clear to Inzaghi that they view beating Milan as a possible turning point in the season, though he is seemingly not convinced there is a link between victory in this game and subsequent improvement.

"We'll have to wait and see. I remember last year that we enjoyed the Supercoppa final win over Juventus in the right way, because a few days later we were back playing away to Bergamo," he recalled.

"Football never stops. Three days later, we were talking about a 0-0 draw in Bergamo against Atalanta.

"We need to just take one game at a time. Now we've got Milan, and we're preparing for it in the best way we can.

"The players need to work hard for their team-mates because in these types of games it's the only way you end the game without regrets."

Novak Djokovic set off on his Melbourne mission to match Rafael Nadal's haul of 22 grand slams, promising: "I know how to handle it."

The title favourite and nine-time champion swept through his first Australian Open match in two years, beating Spain's Roberto Carballes Baena 6-3 6-4 6-0.

Deported from Melbourne last year amid a vaccination saga, and denied the chance to defend his title, Djokovic received a rousing welcome on Rod Laver Arena.

"I felt very welcome on the court," Djokovic said. "Especially the Serbian community that is big here in Australia has welcomed me in an incredible way. So much support. So much love."

The 35-year-old from Belgrade dropped just four points in the closing set, with the hamstring injury that hampered his preparation seemingly giving him no fresh cause for concern.

"The leg is good. It's not ideal, but it's getting there. Today was a really good test," he added.

Djokovic will join Nadal at the top of the men's all-time list of slam triumphs should he pick up a 10th title at Melbourne Park next week. He may soon be looking at overtaking Margaret Court, who won 24 singles slams, the most by any player.

"They're just numbers in the end of the day," Djokovic said, when asked about the targets in his sights.

"I've been in the situations before where I've played for some really big historic things, and I've been blessed to have I would say more success than failures in those particular situations.

"I know how to behave, I know how to handle it. Let's see how far I can go."

Mother Dijana and father Srdan have joined Djokovic in Australia this year, as has brother Marko.

His parents have not made the trip to Melbourne since 2008, the year Djokovic won a first grand slam in Australia.

"Well it's really not around the corner from Serbia. Australia is a pretty long way," said Djokovic, explaining why they usually stayed away.

"That's probably the biggest reason. They've come to watch me in Paris, Roland Garros, and Wimbledon, US Open. In particular, Australian Open has been a bit of a trip for my parents particularly.

"I'm really glad to have them here. The last time they were here, actually the only time they were here, was back in 2008. We have some great memories and considerations about the time that they spent here together now 15 years ago. Hopefully they can stay all the way, I can stay all the way, and we can have another great celebration."

Ken Owens will captain Wales in the Six Nations and Warren Gatland has included four uncapped players in his 37-man squad.

Hooker Owens takes over as skipper from Justin Tipuric, who led the side for the Autumn Nations Series encounters last year.

The fit-again Wyn Jones, Dewi Lake and Liam Williams return in Gatland's first squad since he returned for a second spell as head coach, replacing the sacked Wayne Pivac.

New Zealander Gatland has recalled Leon Brown, Rhys Carre, Rhys Patchell, Aaron Wainwright, Rhys Webb and Owen Williams.

The uncapped Rhys Davies, Keiran Williams, Mason Grady and Teddy Williams also got the nod, while Rio Dyer, Joe Hawkins and Dafydd Jenkins are in line to make their Six Nations debuts.

Gatland said of naming Owens as captain: "Ken's incredibly experienced and a passionate Welshman – it means a lot to him to play for Wales. He's also very popular with the players.

"He came back from injury and was absolutely outstanding during the autumn campaign. Probably, if you're picking a team at the moment he's the number one in that position. But he's going to have some competition with Dewi and Bradley [Roberts] as well, which is going to be great."

Gatland has completed his coaching team by appointing Jonathan Thomas, who will take responsibility for the contact area.

Wales face Ireland at the Principality Stadium in their first match of the tournament at the Principality Stadium on February 4.

Wales Six Nations squad:

Forwards: Rhys Carre, Wyn Jones, Gareth Thomas, Dewi Lake, Ken Owens (captain), Bradley Roberts, Leon Brown, Tomas Francis, Dillon Lewis, Adam Beard, Rhys Davies, Dafydd Jenkins, Alun Wyn Jones, Teddy Williams, Taulupe Faletau, Jac Morgan, Tommy Reffell, Justin Tipuric, Christ Tshiunza, Aaron Wainwright.

Backs: Kieran Hardy, Rhys Webb, Tomos Williams, Dan Biggar, Rhys Patchell, Owen Williams, Mason Grady, Joe Hawkins, George North, Nick Tompkins, Keiran Williams, Josh Adams, Alex Cuthbert, Rio Dyer, Leigh Halfpenny, Louis Rees-Zammit, Liam Williams.

Antonio Conte believes there is a "bad habit" in English football of sporting directors not having to address the media.

Conte's Tottenham lost 2-0 to north London rivals Arsenal on Sunday and face Manchester City in their next Premier League outing on Thursday.

Spurs have won only one of their last four league games and are five points behind fourth-placed Manchester United, having played a game more than Erik ten Hag’s team.

Conte has regularly suggested he wants more signings to bolster Tottenham's squad, despite a spending splurge in the last transfer window.

However, the Italian suggested sporting directors or directors of football should also face the press, as they do in his homeland, rather than just managers.

"In England I think there's a bad habit that it's only the coach talks and explains. I've never seen the medical department coming here to explain," he said in a press conference on Tuesday, seemingly referring to Fabio Paratici, Spurs' managing director of football.

"It's the same, I've never seen the club nor the sporting director coming here to explain the strategy of the club. In Italy, before every game there's a person from the club that goes to speak to the media.

"I think for us it could be better, otherwise there is only one face to explain the situation that I think is better for the club to explain. In Italy it's different.

"Otherwise, it means that only if the coach talks there can be a misunderstanding. I think it could be good for the club to be present in the media.

"Not every week, but at least every 15 days or once a month. I think it could be more simple for you to understand and not always the same. Otherwise, it can seem if something is a criticism or negative and it's not the case."

While Conte would no doubt like to add to his ranks in January, Spurs have plenty of world-class talent to call on.

One of those players, Son Heung-min, has struggled to replicate the form he showed last season, scoring just four league goals in 17 appearances.

"Last season he scored 25 goals," Conte said of Son. "This season he's not scoring so much. For us it's not good news because we count on his goals.

"We are not talking about robots, but about a person – a human. I'm the first to hope that Sonny starts to score with the pressure or without the pressure."

Rohit Sharma has urged India to focus on themselves rather than top-ranked New Zealand ahead of another ODI series against the Black Caps.

The first of three matches takes place on Wednesday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, with India coming off a 3-0 series victory over Sri Lanka, and New Zealand having just earned a 2-1 success against Pakistan.

India contested a weather-spoiled series in New Zealand in November, with only one of three matches producing a result and the home side taking a 1-0 win.

Now they will hope for three full contests, with New Zealand having to cope without the rested Kane Williamson and Tim Southee, while Trent Boult is unavailable due to T20 commitments in the United Arab Emirates.

India suffered a blow on the eve of the opening match as batter Shreyas Iyer was ruled out of the series with a back injury. Rajat Patidar was named as his replacement in the squad, while Rohit announced Ishan Kishan would come into the middle order.

KL Rahul is another notable absentee, with his wedding to Bollywood star Athiya Shetty widely reported as being scheduled for the coming days.

Captain Rohit said: "New Zealand are a very good team. They're coming off a good series against Pakistan and obviously they're playing good cricket, so it will be challenging for us to come out and execute what we want to execute.

"We just want to continue from where we left off against Sri Lanka.

"We are not going to concentrate too much on the opposition. We will focus on what we want to achieve and what we want to do as a team. The last series was the perfect example of that. We just went out there, played some fearless cricket and take on the opposition."

India's series sweep against Sri Lanka was completed with a record 317-run victory on Sunday in the third game, after posting 390 and bowling out their tourists for 73.

Now they take on the team who sit at the top of the ICC rankings for the 50-over format, with the Hyderabad match followed by games in Raipur and Indore, prior to a three-game T20I series.

Good omens for the hosts

India have won their last two men's ODIs against New Zealand at home, as many as they had won across their five previous such fixtures (W2, L3).

They have also triumphed in their last three men's ODIs at the Hyderabad venue.

Landmark in sight for Gill

Shubman Gill is 106 away from reaching 1,000 runs for India in ODIs. Should he achieve the milestone with a century in this match, his 19th ODI, it would make him the joint-second fastest man to reach the mark, alongside Pakistan's Imam-ul-Haq.

Gill made 116 last time out, in the third ODI romp against Sri Lanka.

LaLiga has been urged by Spain's Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) to implement the semi-automated offside tool after the VAR failed to rule out an offside goal in Monday's game between Cadiz and Elche.

Bottom-of-the-league Elche rescued a late point away to Cadiz, who are also in the relegation zone, thanks to Ezequiel Ponce's 81st-minute header.

Ponce played a part in the move building up to the goal as well, and replays showed his initial involvement came when he was offside.

As such, the goal should have been disallowed, but the VAR did not bring it to the attention of referee Carlos del Cerro Grande. 

The CTA recognised the error, before offering LaLiga a way to prevent such incidents occurring again.

"Putting an end to human error is not possible, but it is possible in offside [decisions] if the semi-automatic tool is applied," a statement read.

"For this reason, we invite [LaLiga] to implement the semi-automatic offside technology after the experience carried out by the RFEF [Royal Spanish Football Federation] in the last Spanish Super Cup, which avoids any type of failure in decision-making regarding this game action through the activation of a series of alerts that makes the tool infallible.

"In this sense, from the CTA we announce we will resume talks with [LaLiga]. Spanish football deserves to continue growing in a cutting-edge context to avoid situations that can be corrected with the application of technology.

"The semi-automatic offside will also be carried out in the Copa del Rey final, since the implementation of this technology can only be carried out in the First Division Champions League stadiums and not in the rest of the first and second division.

"The CTA has already taken the strictest internal disciplinary measures [against the officials involved] that will affect some already announced designations."

Formula One has decided against replacing the cancelled Chinese Grand Prix in the 2023 calendar, which remains a 23-race season.

Shanghai was set to host China's first race since 2019 on April 16, making it the fourth date on the calendar.

But the race was cancelled in December due to China's zero-COVID policy, with the country still implementing strict rules in an attempt to curb the spread of coronavirus.

It was deemed unfeasible to host a race in Shanghai, with F1 subsequently considering potential replacement destinations elsewhere.

Portimao in Portugal and Istanbul in Turkey were apparently in contention, but it was confirmed on Tuesday that the season will remain 23 races instead.

That leaves a four-week gap between the third race in Australia on April 2 and the fourth race in Azerbaijan on April 30.

"Formula 1 can confirm that the 2023 season will consist of 23 races," a statement read.

"That means the season will kick off with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 5, and finish in Abu Dhabi on November 26, with the brand new Las Vegas Grand Prix joining the calendar a week before the season finale."

In November 2021, F1 signed a contract extension through 2025 with the Chinese Grand Prix. 

However, this will be the fourth year in a row that China has been unable to host a race on the F1 calendar due to COVID-19.

Pre-season testing will commence on February 23 after the 10 teams unveil their new cars for the year earlier that month.

Alexander Zverev believes the Australian Open is already a success for him after his five-set victory against Juan Pablo Varillas on Tuesday.

It was the German's first win since his foot injury at the French Open in June during his semi-final against Rafael Nadal.

Zverev only returned to tour-level tennis in December at the United Cup, where he lost to Jiri Lehecka and Taylor Fritz.

He fell a set behind twice against the Peruvian lucky loser Varillas, before fighting back to win 4-6 6-1 5-7 7-6 (7-3) 6-4.

The world number 12 hit 69 winners and won 83 per cent of his first serve points in the contest, which lasted four hours and nine minutes.

"I am extremely happy because I missed this over the past seven months," Zverev said after his victory.

"This match alone pays off for all the hard work and suffering that I have had. To win in front of this kind of crowd again.

"I can't wait for the rest of the tournament. No matter what happens from now, the tournament is already a success for me."

Zverev will face the winner of Michael Mmoh or Laurent Lokoli in the second round, with their match suspended at two sets all on Tuesday due to rain.

Ons Jabeur said a knee problem presents her with "a great challenge" at the Australian Open as she looks to reach a third successive grand slam final.

Tamara Zidansek, the world number 98, gave Jabeur plenty to think about in round one on Tuesday, but the Slovenian eventually faded as the second seed came through a 7-6 (10-8) 4-6 6-1 winner.

Two hours and 17 minutes will have been longer than Jabeur wanted to stay out on Rod Laver Arena, but she was pleased to at least finish strongly.

The Tunisian is making a habit of getting through to major finals, losing to Elena Rybakina at Wimbledon and Iga Swiatek at the US Open, but she dearly wants to be a winner on such an occasion.

That may still happen in Australia, but Jabeur had taping on her right knee and may find it is beyond her to go deep into the tournament this fortnight. She said the performance was "not the way I wanted to play", and there seems little doubt the knee was a factor.

"It's not a big injury, but sometimes it might bother me," Jabeur said.

"I try to take it one day at a time. It's a great challenge. I'm going to challenge myself and see if I cannot play 100 per cent, but we'll try to push and be able to do something with it for sure."

Her back has also been an issue in recent weeks, and Jabeur had the crowd in creases by saying she would demand a late-night massage from her husband. She quickly clarified that was all she was asking from him, pointing out he is her fitness coach.

Jabeur expects to have a "light practice" on Wednesday ahead of facing Marketa Vondrousova or Alison Riske-Amritraj in round two the following day.

In the second set, she trailed 5-3 but snatched a break back and would have hoped to then get the job done in straight sets, only to be broken herself.

Iga Swiatek, the top seed, was in a similar situation in her opener against Jule Niemeier on Monday, managing to get the job done in two rather than go to a decider.

"It's nice to see Iga from 5-3 [winning] 7-5. I wanted to do that today, but I'm not Iga," Jabeur said. "Better 6-1 in the third set."

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag commended Bruno Fernandes for his mastery of an unorthodox role in Saturday's derby win as the Red Devils look to build on their momentum against Crystal Palace.

Fernandes scored the controversial equaliser against Manchester City at Old Trafford and was named Player of the Match for his tireless performance.

Although usually deployed in a central role, Fernandes spent much of the game out wide, tracking back to help Aaron Wan-Bissaka in the first half before switching to the left after Anthony Martial's half-time withdrawal.

Fernandes was also tasked with looking for early passes over the City defence, and this tactic helped United create a couple of openings in the first 45.

The Portugal midfielder will likely return to a more familiar position for Wednesday's trip to Selhurst Park, but Ten Hag was keen to acknowledge the effectiveness of Fernandes in what was a statement victory.

"The idea was with Bruno on the right wing, especially when defending," he said. "I think we defended as usual, but in possession [Fernandes] had a role to come in between the lines, to bring an extra player there, to bring the opponent problems and hesitation and confusion.

"He played the role really brilliant, on the right and on the left. I think the rest of the team adapted good to the situation.

"We had really good breaks by finding the free man, and Bruno was important in that role, and he was important in pressing as well.

"I didn't know he was Man of the Match, but he was my Man of the Match, definitely."

Beating City lifted United to within a point of the defending champions, with the win leaving many to declare Ten Hag's side as genuine title challengers.

The gravity of the result was not lost on Ten Hag, who was adamant the team needed to be allowed to celebrate it.

"Every win you have to celebrate," Ten Hag continued. "You work so hard for such momentum, and every win that is so great in top football, you can't not celebrate. You kill the energy [if you do not celebrate].

"We have to celebrate, but after we settle down after 24 hours. We move on to the next game, and to get in the right rhythm. Every third day we have to deliver, and the players have to get in right rhythm, physically and mentally, to be ready for the next game."

One player who would appear to be a doubt is Martial, who could only manage 45 minutes on Saturday.

However, Ten Hag suggested his withdrawal was about preventing injury rather than being a response to a new problem.

He added: "I hoped to avoid him getting injured. He was complaining, that's why he also didn't train in the week, he was a question mark.

"We decided, and he did as well, that he was also able to start, because I knew to start in this game was so important, especially because he's so good in pressing, he's a big element in our pressing, and he did that really well before half-time, but he was not able to go 100 per cent and that's what you need.

"To avoid getting injured, we took him off, but it had an impact on our game, a negative impact after half-time."