Albert docks

New signing! New signing!

Well almost.  It’s going to happen though, I’m sure of it.  After all, Liverpool missing out on their prime summer targets and then blowing the best part of £10 million on second or third choice targets just a few days shy of transfer deadline day.  I mean that’s never happened before has it?

I admit, I’m being a bit harsh on Senor Riera here.  I’ve never seen him player, I know very little about him other that he’s not in Spanish national side and once had a unsuccessful loan spell at Manchester City.

What’s wound me up here is the same old, same old situation.  We’ve had these kind of signings repeated over the last few years.  They’ve not worked before, so it’s hard to believe that it’ll be any difference this time.

I’m also not entirely sure where Albert fits in.  He can’t operate as a left-back or as a defensive midfielder in the way Gareth Barry could have.  So to make things even more depressing it looks like we’ve shot £9 million on a squad player.  Yes, we do need width and decent wingers, of that there’s no doubt.  I just find it difficult to believe that Riera is anything more another stop-gap signing.

Plus what of our youngsters and reserve options.  People like Paul Anderson and Adam Hamill. Signings like this have the knock-on effect that everyone else gets knocked one-step further down the pecking order.  Instead of looking forward to some young vibrant motivated youngster appearing down the flanks in the early rounds of the league and F.A. Cup’s we can expect to see the likes of Yossi, Voronin and all the other squaddies making us squirm against Lowerleague Albion.

*sigh* Oh and to make it worse Villa have just signed Milner and our new stadium has been delayed yet again!  Has being joint-top of the league ever felt so depressing!?

karl

Reasons to be Cheerful?

The off-season for me is usually a period of blissful optimism.  Back in the Roy Evans era I would regularly check the gossip line headlines on teletext several times a day anxiously waiting for the “£10million superstar linked” rumour to turn into a new signing.  Last season it was message boards and transfer rumour blogs, but the feeling was the same.  That excitement that comes with new signings and the blind faith that this time it will be your season.

This year, however, it’s really hard to know what to think. 

If I go there will be trouble…

Now then.

It’s all becoming a bit unsavoury.   I’ve very mixed feelings about the Barry transfer largely due to two of our closest friends, and creators of our excellent sister*-blog ‘Oh, It Must Be! It Is!‘ being ardent Villa fans.

Having your club captain (and fan favourite) openly criticise your manager and publically state his intention to join a rival team cannot be easy reading, and given the paper printing the story he’s hardly endearing himself to Liverpool fans either.

Karl Eisenhauer

* – I say sister.  I mean more like an anorexic junkie, slapper, half-cousin obviously.

Playing spot against the walls of Anfield

“You can’t play with your ball here”.

The word’s spoken by a faceless exec, after some friends and I had purchased a ball from the club shop and began an impromptu kick-about.  Kind of sums up the Parry-era doesn’t it?

Goodnight John Boy

So that’s £139,634 off the monthly wage bill.