Walrus

Thanks for letting us know that, I'll give Rafa a call right away!

You didn't let me down.

Crap caption that Kahnee, you can do better than that!

Unlike your intended YNWA name.

----------Riise---------- Riise-Riise-Riise-Riise- Riise-Riise-Riise-Riise- -------Voronin--------- -----------Riise--------

You mean this: --------------Reina---------------- Carra---Skrtel---Agger---Dossena ------Mascherano---Barry----Babel- ----Gerrard----Keane-------- ----------------Torres-------------

Has kenny7 provided an update yet on the Barry transfer?

Last season was the first in a long while that we've had a decent enough start.

How must N'Gog feel?

Out of Bentley, Modric, Arshavin (if he even signs) and Dos Santos, Dos Santos is the one who really hasn't shown much if anything at all. Likewise Arshavin and Modric could easily flop and that leaves Bentley as the safest bet out of their new signings IMO.

Can't understand how people rate Guthrie so highly. Think Spearing and especially Plessis will both become better players than him. Anyways, back to Darby... he will probably be this year's Insua. People will keep saying that he deserves a chance and then he will get 2-3 matches in the League Cup/meaningless league games (hopefully we won't have those), where he will not do enough to really convince the manager like a Gerrard or Owen have done.

Spearing seems like he's trying to prove how hard he is all the time. Looks a bit funny at times, I must admit.

Revenge of Luis or Harry.

Xabi having drink problems? Based on his public persona and the fact that he has a new baby I find it very hard to believe any of that.

Daily Mail: Gareth Barry's transfer to Liverpool finally looks like going through after the Anfield club came up with the money to secure his move from Aston Villa. The longest-running saga of the summer has reached a confusing climax after an earlier statement that he was staying at Villa Park. Sportsmail understands that the mix-up was due to a deadline being missed by 20 minutes, and the transfer will finally be concluded on Thursday. Villa will receive a £17.5million fee plus right back Steve Finnan in exchange for a midfielder who will fulfil his wish to play in the Champions League this season after all. To find the money, Liverpool needed to provide the bank with a guarantee that funds to cover the move will be raised during the remainder of the close season. The transfer has dragged on since May when Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez made it clear that Barry was his top priority. Villa manager Martin O'Neill was angry with him for making details of his interest public, and a war of words raged between them for much of the early summer. Liverpool made four separate bids to sign Barry but none of them matched O'Neill's valuation of the player. Barry's outburst against O'Neill in a Sunday newspaper then appeared to signal the end of any chance of him remaining at Villa. He accused the manager of finding time to be a pundit at Euro 2008 but not to speak to him about his future and was disciplined and told to stay away from the club's training ground. Then Barry was booed by Villa fans at a pre-season friendly at Walsall last week, but that mood had mellowed when he appeared as a substitute in Saturday's InterToto Cup tie with Odense. Matters finally reached a head on Monday when O'Neill tried to force the Merseysiders into a corner by setting a deadline. That was passed at 5pm on Wednesday when Villa had still not received confirmation from Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry that funds were in place. Villa then put out a statement on their website confirming that Barry would be staying. It read: 'This evening, Aston Villa can announce that Gareth Barry will be staying with the club following the interest from Liverpool over recent months. 'During discussions in the past few days, a final deadline to conclude this episode was set that all parties were aware of and agreed to. This deadline has now passed and so Gareth will remain with Villa.' However, it soon transpired that the two clubs were still talking over the move. Barry had been due to play in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Notts County on Thursday - but his name was subsequently withdrawn. And it also appears that the England midfielder has already committed himself to renting a house in Cheshire. The transfer has dragged on but now Benitez has to act quickly by offloading players to keep Liverpool's part of the bargain with financiers.

Villa Talk

Offal says: Due to rights restrictions, the match at El Madrigal will only be available to watch online to supporters viewing from outside the UK and Middle East. Therefore, I CAN see this through their coverage after all

Aren't you a day early or have I entered Groundhog Day?

Gerrard on the right certainly has its merits though.

with a weapon of some kind?