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Gareth Barry will be the focus of attention on Sunday where we fancy Aston Villa to beat Liverpool. Despite some mediocre efforts on the pitch the Reds have somehow mustered a 100% start to their Premier League campaign but their luck will surely end at Villa Park.

Anyone who witnessed Liverpool´s awful midweek display against Standard Liege will be fully aware that it is only a matter of time before they are beaten.

Devoid of any attacking ideas, not even Dirk Kuyt´s 117th minute winner can paper over the current cracks. To play nearly three-and-a-half hours against an average Belgian side and only score one goal is unacceptable for a team that has Championship ambitions.

Villa were beaten by a well drilled Stoke …

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If you believe that every team has a certain amount of good luck every season, then Liverpool surely used up a massive slice of it last night. Let’s face it, they were lucky bleeders in their Champions League tie against Standard Liege. By rights, they should have been 2-0 down early in the first half – when Liege missed a penalty and had a ‘goal’ clawed back from behind the line by Pepe Reina – and perhaps even further behind by half-time. Escaping Belgium with a goalless draw could be one of their best results of the season. They’ll surely finish the job off properly at Anfield in the second leg and make it through to the Champions League group …

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Football fans will get a fascinating insight into the new striking partnership between Robbie Keane and Fernando Torres tonight. Belgian outfit Standard Liege host Liverpool as the Merseysiders look to come through this tricky looking Champions League qualifier.

Liege have just won their first league title for 25 years so they can´t be a bunch of mugs but if Keane and Torres click it will be a tough night for them.

Keane inherits the famous No7 shirt as worn by Anfield greats like Kevin Keegan and Kenny Dalglish and if he successfully bonds with Torres he will inject hope into the hearts of the Liverpool faithful that they can finally bring a Premiership title to the club.

Ironically Keane almost joined Liverpool as …

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Wouldn’t it be lovely to be the manager of Man Utd, even for just one day? Cristiano Ronaldo’s injured, leaving Utd a bit short of goals  - so Fergie goes shopping and comes back with Dimitar Berbatov. At a ever-so-small fee of almost £30m. See? No bargain-basement scratting around for the manager of the world’s biggest club. Just go right to the top and sign one of the best striker in the Premier League! Easy, eh?

That’s if this morning’s papers aren’t telling dirty great fibs, of course. The Berbatov to Old Trafford link is nothing new – it first surfaced a year ago and has been bubbling under all summer – but Spurs fans probably though they’d warded off the …

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After a long hot day at work there´s people from certain professions you really wouldn´t want to be stuck in a faulty lift with.

But given the choice between a pongy fishmonger or a football club chairman I´d take eels over egomaniacs seven days a week.

I´m not interested in the opinions of these outspoken businessmen. What happened to the days when the views of the boardroom suits stayed in the boardroom? Leave the controversy to the bloke in the sheepskin standing in the dug-out.

Take the bloke Levy at Tottenham for instance. He´s been having a massive moan about the sale of Robbie Keane. He should pipe down, he´s just raked in 20 million for a player who has already reached his …

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Robbie Keane has left Tottenham to join Liverpool in the biggest deal of the summer so far, signing for £20.3 million. But that, it seems, is only part of the story. For Spurs have kicked off massively at the way Liverpool conducted their business, and Keane leaves White Hart Lane with his ears stinging from a stern rebuke by Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy.

Levy has made it clear that his club had no choice but to let Keane go, with the player handing in a transfer request upon hearing of Liverpool’s interest. And Levy has effectively accused the Reds of ‘tapping up’ the Republic of Ireland striker.

“I was incredibly disappointed when I first heard, not only that Liverpool had been working …

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Most of the time we have to make the best of what we have. And that´s a thought Rafael Benitez should bear in mind when trying to free up some cash by off-loading Xabi Alonso to Juventus.

He wants to use the funds to buy Gareth Barry of course but is the Aston Villa man a better player than the Basque? Most definitely not, but Benitez would appear to have been seduced by one England midfield performance by Barry alongside club skipper Steven Gerrard.

On swallow doesn´t make a summer Rafa.

I find it incredible the man that scored the crucial third goal to complete Liverpool´s amazing Champions League final comeback against Juventus should be deemed surplus to requirements. Even more ridiculous …

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Show me someone who actually believes Liverpool are going to challenge Manchester United or Chelsea for the 2008/9 Premiership title and we will show you a hapless mug.

Take the hilarious transfer rumour that Liverpool were in for David Villa which broke on Wednesday… only for Thursday´s news that the Valencia man had been priced out of the Anfield budget…

David Villa will cost £25 million, a figure the Anfield outfit cannot afford. Liverpool can´t even raise the cash for the plodding Gareth Barry, who Aston Villa have priced at £18 million, until they flog Xabi Alonso for £10 million to Juventus.

Anyone who knows anything about football knows that Liverpool are potless, financially and trophy cabinet-wise, and will be for many years …

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Us motley crew at the Beat always thought there was something suspicious about the seemingly love / hate relationship between Jose Mourinho and Sir Alex Ferguson. The press would build up a war of words between the two and then we´d hear about the pair sharing bottles of vintage wine after games.

But now the truth is out. They were best muckers all along and thanks to Jose´s latest move; Fergie is in for the easiest title procession of his career.

By lining up Frank Lampard for Inter Milan, Mourinho is effectively pulling the carpet under any chance Chelsea had of winning the title. And let´s face it, Chelsea are United´s only realistic challengers.

Arsenal don´t have a prayer of attaining 83 …

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Who’d have thought the biggest, nastiest and most drawn out transfer saga of the summer would involve Gareth Barry, supposedly one of football’s nice guys?

But it does, because Liverpool’s attempts to sign Aston Villa’s captain have been going on since the end of the Premier League season, and they’re still going on. No-one’s talking about Ronaldo to Real anymore – if you want bitterness and bullying and moaning and stubborn stand-offs, the Barry to Liverpool story is where it’s at.

Here where we are so far. Liverpool offer £10million for Barry, Villa say no, we want £18m. Liverpool up it £1m. Villa say no. Liverpool up it another £1m. Villa say no, again. Barry returns from England duty to tell his …

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