Reds Coming Up Strong
Steven Gerrard was full of praise for match-winner Neil Mellor after the youngster's first Premiership goal claimed a late win over Arsenal.
Mellor could have joined Sheffield United in a £500,000 deal a few weeks ago but for the lack of fit strikers at Anfield.
And Gerrard said: "Neil will be dreaming about that goal for years. He deserved it. He worked hard."
The Reds skipper believes the 2-1 win will give thesquad a lot of confidence, and added that his target was for Liverpool to finish higher than fourth place in the Premiership.
"We're very pleased with the first-half performance," added Gerrard.
"The game plan was to stop them playing and press them back.
"But Arsenal came back into it. We expected that, they are a fantastic team but we never gave up.
"When you come off a couple of defeats Arsenal is the game you don't want but we went in with the right attitude. We want the top four but we are aiming higher than that."
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Brugge Marches On In Belgium
Runaway leaders Club Brugge made it 12 wins from 14 league games so far this campaign with a comprehensive 3-0 win at home to Excelsior Mouscron on Sunday.
Timmy Simons opened the scoring from the penalty spot after just two minutes, and Rune Lange doubled the lead after 36 minutes.
Simons then grabbed his second 11 minutes into the second half to restore Brugge's seven point lead at the summit of the table.
Standard Liege remain seventh in the table after a crushing 4-1 defeat at St Truidense.
Tamas Hajnal, Mathieu Beda, Kris Buvens and Benjamin De Ceulaer were all on the scoresheet for the hosts.
Lierse are up to eighth after thrashing FC Brussels 5-1.
Bjorn De Wilde hit a hat-trick, and Kristof Imschoot and Marius Mitu were also on the mark.
In the other match on Sunday, Germinal had Moussa Dembele to thank for the only goal in a 1-0 win at Mons.
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Letter Of Apology
The English Football Association said on Friday it had received a letter of apology from the Spanish Football Association after home fans racially abused England players during a friendly match in Madrid on Wednesday.
The FA's website said the letter, from General Secretary Jorge P. Arias, categorically condemned the fans' behaviour.
"The FA welcomes the response and now looks forward to receiving details from FIFA on its investigation initiated yesterday," a statement said.
The Spanish FA was responding to a letter of complaint from the FA after sections of the Bernabeu crowd made monkey noises at England players Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips during the 1-0 defeat.
Racial abuse also marred the under-21 clash between the two countries on Tuesday. FIFA could fine the Spanish FA or order Spain to play a match behind closed doors.
Madrid council condemned the racist taunts but said that the events should not be allowed to harm the city's bid to host the 2012 Olympics.
"Such attitudes do not in any way represent the feeling of the majority of people in our city which is open to all cultures, races and nationalities," mayor Alberto Ruiz Gallardon said.
Several British soccer personalities have said the England players should have walked off the pitch in protest while others think the referee should have acted. |
Sochaux Bounce Back
Sochaux took a huge step towards qualification for the knockout stages of the Uefa Cup with a narrow win at Sporting Lisbon.
The French side trail Newcastle, who beat them 4-0 last week, by three points with one round of matches to go.
Johann Lonfat capitalised on a defensive mix-up to give the French side the crucial goal in the second minute - in their first attack of the match.
That proved to be enough for Sochaux to join their Portuguese rivals on six points, three clear of Panionios with one round of matches remaining in Group D.
The Greek side thrashed Dynamo Tbilisi 5-2 as Evagelos Mantzios grabbed a hat-trick.
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New Scotland Boss
Walter Smith was today unveiled as the new manager of Scotland on a four-year contract.
The 56-year-old has succeeded Berti Vogts, who quit his position on November 1 after picking up just two points from the opening three World Cup qualifiers.
Scottish Football Association president John McBeth revealed the governing body's board had unanimously voted in favour of Smith to take the post this morning.
The former Rangers and Everton manager told a press conference: "I am delighted the board have appointed me as manager.
"I am slightly old fashioned in that I still think the national manager's job is one that anyone in football would like - and I am no different from that.
"I am really looking forward to getting started."
Despite a disappointing start to the qualifying campaign, Smith is still optimistic Scotland can reach the finals of the 2006 World Cup.
He added: "I think Scotland have a chance. Like every
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Feyenoord End German Run
Feyenoord booked their place in the last 32 of the UEFA Cup by coming from behind to inflict a first defeat of the group phase on Schalke.
The visitors took a seventh-minute lead through Mike Hanke but failed to add to that after a bright start and were ultimately punished.
Ivory Coast striker Salomon Kalou grabbed a double in the 32nd and 41st minutes to put Feyenoord into the draw for the knockout phase alongside their German opponents.
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