Red-faced at anfield

Premier League strugglers slip to 3-2 defeat against Udinese in Europa League

Beleaguered English side Liverpool couldnt make use of their first half lead as they went down 3-2 to Udinese at home. The side,currently 15th in the English Premier League,took the lead through Jonjo Shelvey to go into half time 1-0,but goals from Antonio Di Natale and Giovanni Pasquale,along with a Sebastian Coates own-goal condemned them to defeat. Even the introduction of Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez couldnt ignite Liverpools comeback.

Samuel Etoo scored twice to give ambitious Anzhi Makhachkala a 2-0 Europa League win over Young Boys on Thursday while Liverpool lost 3-2 at home to Udinese and Videton,Sparta Prague and Molde pulled off surprise wins. Defending champions Atletico Madrid,one of several teams fielding a second string line-up,needed a goal deep in stoppage time from Cristian Rodriguez to overcome defiant Czechs Viktoria Plzen 1-0.

The Uruguayan player known as The Onion let fly from outside the area to leave Diego Simeones team with six points from two games at the top of Group B.

Etoo,who last week ended his stand-off with Cameroon officials and agreed to play for his country again,converted a 62th minute penalty against the run of play. He then turned in Oleg Shatovs cross in the last minute to complete a 2-0 win over the Swiss side and extend Anzhis unbeaten run to seven matches in the competition,including the qualifiers.

Liverpool were another side to rest regulars but still took a first-half lead through Jonjo Shelvey. However,Antonio Di Natale levelled with a goal immediately after the break and he cleverly set a third for Giovanni Pasquale shortly after Liverpool defender Sebastian Coates headed into his own goal.

Liverpool brought on Uruguay forward Luis Suarez who scored with a perfectly flighted free kick but could not inspire an equaliser.

Sloppy DEFENCE

We cant have to score three,four or five goals to win games, said Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers,bemoaning defensive sloppiness that has plagued his team so far this season. Were just disappointed after such a good first half to give away such poor goals in the second half to leave us chasing the game.

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Videoton gave Hungarian football a rare boost with a 3-0 win over Sporting,the goals coming in the first half from Paulo Vinicius,Filipe Oliveira and Nemanja Nikolic,while Sparta Prague beat last seasons runners-up Athletic Bilbao 3-1. Molde,coached by former Manchester United forward Ole Gunnar Solskjaer beat Germanys VfB Stuttgart 2-0 with second-half goals from Jo Inge Berget and Daniel Chima.

Inter Milan enjoyed an easy 3-1 win at Azerbaijans Neftci thanks to first-half goals from Philippe Coutinho,Joel Obi and Marko Livaja,all set up by Colombian Fredy Guarin.

Compatriots Lazio scraped a 1-0 win at home to Slovenias Maribor with a 62nd minute goal by Brazilian Ederson. Tottenham Hotspur are still awaiting their first win after drawing 1-1 at Panathinaikos.

Napoli,another team resting their top players with Edinson Cavani among those on the bench,were the only letdown for Italy as they were over-run at Dick Advocaats PSV where Jeremain Lens,Dries Martins and Marcelo shared the goals.