Gérard Houllier has signed the contract he said he would. It’s a three year deal. Really pretty simple, not sure why it’s such huge news, but it seems to be lighting up the wires at the moment, so to speak.

Previously, Emile Heskey was dominating the headlines, for the right reasons for once, following the impact he made against Blackburn midweek. A welcome change, but not a sustainable one I suspect. Hopefully I’m way off the mark because Houllier has said that strengthening the strike force is not top of his pops: “We have got three strikers in Agbonlahor, Carew and Emile. I don’t think we have to sign another. If we have to sign a player now, it won’t be in that area.”

Hopefully Delfouneso and Weimman were included in his rationale, even if they weren’t included in the quote.

Speaking of strikers,Gabby’s battling for fitness ahead of Sunday’s game at Molineux, although I’m sure I read earlier that he was going to be OK. Personally, I don’t think he’s looked anywhere close to 100% so far this season and almost every time he’s declared fit and available, he seems to pick up something else. I’d like to see him rested until he’s tip top again, it’s a long season ahead.

Perhaps another reason for Houllier’s lack of interest in procuring further striking talent is that he sees Ashley Young’s future playing, as he has done frequently this season, in a central position, just behind the main striker.  Asked whether Houllier shared MON’s opinion that Ash could be one of Europe’s best wingers, he had an alternative view:-

Gerard Houllier
As a left-winger? No. He can play on the wing. Whether he can be one of the best in the world in that position … I think he can be one of the best in another position.

I told him I thought he could be a leader, not only in terms of quality but in terms of effort. He can be a star but a star as a team player. And his input must not be only making goals and scoring goals.

It’s his work rate and his attitude that can improve the rest of the team. Ideally I would like him to step up a bit more but he’s got everything it takes to reach the very top.

And finally, for this splash and dash post, Gérard Houllier has reiterated his desire to make installing a winning mentality on the squad his priority as he’s still getting to know the players. That’s music to my ears, I always say that winning is habitual and going into games expecting to win is half the battle. We do have quality, if we can get a little swagger and confidence to our game, we’ll definitely be back on the right track I think.