The big freeze hit Italy during midweek as four games were called off, so only six games were played over Wednesday and Thursday. Inter's 4-4 home draw with Palermo was the pick of the action where Diego Milito and Fabrizio Miccoli shared seven out of the eight goals. AC Milan slipped away at Lazio. Here are the five top goals of the week 5.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admits that going four games without a win is frustrating but believes that a top-four finish remains achievable as long as the Gunners make an early impact on their matches.

Last night's goalless draw at Bolton left Wenger's side in seventh place, five points behind fourth-place Chelsea and another seven behind bitter cross-town rivals Tottenham Hotspur in third.

Last night Manchester City were denied two penalties by Peter "Grandad" Walton.
So what? Referees are paid to make decisions.
But what is it that influences the decisions that Grandad makes?
In 21 matches refereeing Manchester United over eight seasons, the Reds have won 15, drawn 6 and lost 0.

Steve Zakuani Says His Return Is Unlikely Before 'late May, early June'

While Steve Zakuani didn't exactly put a timeline on this potential return, he made it pretty clear during an interview on Extra Time Radio that he doesn't foresee coming back before May. That almost certainly means he'll open the season the injured list, as that would mean his roster spot would remain open and he'd have to miss at least six games.

Despite the unbalanced nature of the 2012 Cascadia Cup, the three biggest supporters groups of the Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps elected to have each game count equally toward the trophy.

Various options had been discussed, such as counting just one home game for each team or weighting road results differently, but there was apparently near universal support to make the competition's rules as straight forward as possible.

Danny Guthrie put in a great performance for Newcastle yesterday in the game against QPR. Danny Guthrie - will get a new deal on Tyneside Guthrie came straight back into the team after recovering form his groin strain, and he picked up where he left off about six games ago - when he played very well indeed in Newcastle's great 1-0 win, that [.

West Bromwich Albion have been struggling near to the wrong end of the table and know the next few weeks could define whether they are safe in mid-table or battling Premier League relegation in the closing stages of the season.
Roy Hodgson's men are three places above the dreaded bottom three but do have the safety of a six-point cushion between them in 15th and Bolton in 18th.

Newcastle started the season in great form and were unbeaten in their first 11 game of the season, which equalled a Newcastle record. Davide Santon - has looked good in last few games But then we went into a bit of a slump with six games without a win, although in three of those games we were up against both Manchester clubs, away from home, and Chelsea at home.

Danny Guthrie is fit again after his groin injury interrupted the run of six games he had in the Newcastle first team. Danny Guthrie back in full training Danny was in the best form of his career in those games, which started with the Carling Cup tie at Blackburn, after Cheick Tiote had been injured in the Wigan game.

John Nyen on Bolton's season and plight

Bolton's in the EPL "ER" right now...

There are 18 games left to save the season for Bolton Wanderers.

Saving they may need indeed, after momentarily sinking to just near the bottom of the table in the Barclay's Premier League.

Today's the day football gets rediscovered in Singapore with the Daftly Named LionsX11 hosting Kelantan at the Jalan Besar Stadium and all 7,500 tickets sold out.
One round of SLeague games, six games, would never have accumulated that many fans yet they come crawling out the woodwork for this game.

Football resumed in Spain after the short winter break, and it did not take long for the first upset of 2012 to occur, as a late equalizer from Espanyol in the Barcelona derby dented Barca's title hopes.

Real Madrid started off 2012 like they ended 2011, scoring goals. This week Madrid beat Granada 5-1 with Karim Benzema scoring twice and Cristiano Ronaldo hitting his 21st league goal of the season.

Newcastle take on Blackburn Rovers in the 3rd round of the FA Cup this afternoon, and we have to hope we can win this game, to register our second win on the trot at St. James' Park. Newcastle will now be without Demba Ba and Cheick Tiote for up to the next six games, so [...]

Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Editor's note: At the end of the 2010 season, we posted a series of season reviews of every Philadelphia Union player. Over the past several weeks PSP continued with a review of the 2011 season. We conclude with a review of Peter Nowak's 2011 season.

At last it appears the Dynamo have a better local television deal, though it's still a little confusing as it's only for six games. I assume the remainder of the games that are television locally will remain on FS Houston, but details about that haven't been released yet.

From what I can tell, it's a step forward and it means some games might actually be broadcasted locally in HD.

Southampton The Saints' rise under Nigel Adkins has been mightily impressive, and they are still in a position to 'do a Norwich' and gain consecutive promotions up into the Premier League, but the wheels have fallen off a touch recently. In fact, Southampton have won just of their last six games, including defeats to Bristol [.

Manchester City moved three points clear at the top of the Premier League as first-half goals from Sergio Agüero and Yaya Touré paved the way for a comfortable home victory against Liverpool.

Roberto Mancini Talking After The Match

Roberto Mancini's side were in a mini-slump after taken only one point from their two away previous games, but they are a different side at home, dropping only two points at home in the league in all of 2011.

Manchester City moved three points clear at the top of the Premier League as first-half goals from Sergio Agüero and Yaya Touré paved the way for a comfortable home victory against Liverpool.

Roberto Mancini's side were in a mini-slump after taken only one point from their two away previous games, but they are a different side at home, dropping only two points at home in the league in all of 2011.

TAMPA, Fla. – The Major Indoor Soccer League announced its Players of the Month for December on Monday, with the Rochester Lancers' Mauricio Salles being named the Offensive Player of the Month, the Syracuse Silver Knights' Jeff Hughes being named Defensive Player of the Month and the Milwaukee Wave's Nick Vorberg being named Goalkeeper of the Month.

With just a point separating the two sides, Liverpool take on Newcastle United at Anfield on Friday, knowing the importance of a win.
After six games without victory, Newcastle beat Bolton Wanderers 2-0 at the Reebok Stadium on Monday.
Alan Pardew's men had only taken two points from their previous six games, before Hatem Ben Arfa and Demba Ba scored in the second half to topple Bolton and get within a point of sixth-placed Liverpool on the English Premier League table.

It is no real surprise that the Scottish Premier League race already appears to be down to the two usual suspects. How Rangers and Celtic have gotten to their current positions, though, is a story in itself.

Heading into Wednesday's latest edition of the venomous Old Firm Derby (2:45 p.

After Newcastle's poor run of form lately, in which they gained just two points in six games, it was good to get the 2-0 win at Bolton. Davide Santon - could return on Friday at Liverpool And it turns out the latest fixtures that took place on Boxing Day and yesterday produced only three winners - Manchester United won 5-0 at home to Wigan, Newcastle won 2-0 at [.

Alan Pardew was coming under pressure as Newcastle, after the fantastic start to the season, but with the last six games without a win, the lads were able to fix that today with a solid 2-0 win at Bolton. Alan Pardew - this was a big win for us And Alan revealed to Sky Sports that he held a team meeting after the 3-2 West Brom defeat at home [.

The game at Bolton on Boxing Day is turning out to be an important game for Newcastle. As we all know only too well, after having such a great start in our first 11 games of the season and getting 25 points on the board, we've only managed two points in our last six games. [...]

Bolton Wanderers have won one and lost seven of their eight home games in the league this season, but they will be eyeing their second home win of the season on Monday afternoon. Danny Simpson Newcastle not there for the taking Newcastle have just two draws and four defeats in their last six games, and are not in form, and have lost center-back Steven Taylor for the season, and [.

I think it would be fair to say that Newcastle United have had a rather poor run of results in our last six games. Since our 2-1 defeat of Everton, we have picked up a mere two points in our last six games, 0.39 points per game. Despite our excellent start to the season which [...]

Newcastle now find themselves in a terrible run of results, with just 2 points from the last six games, and only one point from the last three games against much lower opposition, and two of those were at home. Haris Vuckic - looked a good player last night It's obvious where the problem lies - it's the defense and [.

Newcastle conceded three goals last night, and that was the fourth time in the last six games that Newcastle have conceded three or more goals in a game. What has happened to our defense? Alan Pardew after the game tonight And it was simply a terrible result for Newcastle, who were way below par in the first half, but came back in the second half and played somewhere near the [.

In a really surprising result tonight, Newcastle lost their fourth game in the last six, when they went down to an ordinary looking West Brom side by 3 goals to 2 at St. James' Park. And it was the fourth time in the last six games that Newcastle had conceded three goals or more, so [...]

Newcastle will have captain Fab Coloccini, Mike Williamson and Cheick Tiote back for the upcoming games over the holiday period. Alan Pardew glad to have players back Only long term injury casualties Steven Taylor and Sylvain Marveaux will not be available for the festive period, although both Yohan Cabaye and Dan Gosling cannot play tonight due to suspensions.

By Jimmy LaRoue

NORFOLK–Standing in the stadium concourse signing autographs after another difficult loss Sunday, Norfolk SharX coach Jon Hall had a rhetorical question when asked whether he's seen improvement in the first-year MISL team:

"What do you think?

Courtesy TribeAthletics.com
Mon, December 19, 2011
RICHMOND, Va. - Another week, another award for William and Mary Tribe women's soccer standout Mallory Schaffer, as the junior midfielder was honored as the CAA Scholar-Athlete of the Year for women's soccer, the conference office announced on Monday.

Mario Gomez (left) is the top scorer in the Bundesliga this season

FC Bayern München secured the tag of Herbstmeister (autumn champions) in Germany last night. Despite going down to ten men following Franck Ribéry's red card on the half hour mark, FC Bayern were seldom troubled by visiting 1.

United travel to London to take on QPR this weekend, and are a top priced 1.5 with Betfred and Paddy Power to win at a ground where they haven't lost for 22 years. They have won eight and lost none of the last 11 meetings with the Hoops in all competitions and come into the game on the back of thrashing Wolves 4-1 to extend their unbeaten run in the league to eight (won 5, Drawn 3).

Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel has hailed his partnership with Daniel Agger, stating the Dane is easy to play alongside.
The Reds have conceded three goals in six games since the Slovakian stopper was paired with Agger during Jamie Carragher's absence.
Uruguayan Sebastian Coates is also vying to start for Liverpool and Skrtel believes competition for places is healthy.

Article by Nicholas Murray
MISL Weekly Round-Up
The Milwaukee Wave continue to roll, Baltimore's return home from the road is a surprisingly tough one, and defensive players providing offensive firepower are in the spotlight in this week's MISL Round-Up.
WAVE STILL ROLLING ALONG


Trailing the Rochester Lancers by seven points midway through the first quarter of Saturday night's game at U.

Liverpool forward Dirk Kuyt insists he remains unfazed by his current goal drought for the club.
Kuyt, who was Liverpool's top scorer last season with 15, has one Carling Cup goal to his name this campaign but has not found the net in the Premier League since May.
The Reds have struggled for goals in general in the Premier League having scored just 18 goals in 15 games.

By Alan Duffy

West Bromwich Albion 1-2 Wigan Athletic Premier League 10th December 2011

Roberto Martinez and his Wigan side made it seven points from their last four Premier League games after coming from behind to win at the Hawthorns on Saturday.

Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Editor's note: At the end of the 2010 season, we posted a series of season reviews of every Philadelphia Union player. Over the next several weeks PSP continues with a review of the 2011 season.

Jordan Harvey is a Union original. Acquired from Colorado in the 2009 MLS Expansion Draft, Harvey featured in 46 of the Union's 47 matches before being dealt to the Vancouver Whitecaps for allocation money on July 7, 2011.

Sergio Koke and Carlo Costly may have ultimately been disappointing signings, but there's no question Brazilian midfielder Luiz Camargo was a fantastic late season pick-up for the Dynamo. Camargo fit right in to the central midfield role, allowing Geoff Cameron to return to the defense. His play down the stretch was a big part of the Dynamo's improved form and run to the MLS Cup Final.