Why Liverpool cannot and should not sign David Villa

Liverpool are apparently waiting in the wings to snap up Spanish striker David Villa if - as recent reports suggest - a reputed move to Arsenal falls through. Capturing Villa would be a dream acquisition on a par with Fernando Torres, but unfortunately, the Steven Gerrard conundrum means that signing any top quality striker right now would be a recipe for disaster.

The Villa story has been popping up regularly in recent weeks, with The Telegraph recently reporting the following:

“Villa has regularly partnered Torres for the national team and, were Arsenal or Chelsea to fail to agree a deal for Villa then Liverpool would be alerted to his availability”

Villa himself seems positive about the idea of coming to Liverpool, and clearly relishes the prospect of teaming up with Fernando Torres:

"It is great playing alongside Fernando. We understand each other totally and we get on brilliantly off the park."

Alas, as great a signing this would be for Liverpool, with Steven Gerrard at the club, it will never work…and I will explain why.

Quite simply, Liverpool are incapable of playing 4-4-2 successfully with Gerrard in the centre. Everybody is always going on about how Gerrard’s best position is central midfield, but if that’s the case, why does not play there for Liverpool or England?

The answer is simple: Gerrard has proved that he cannot form a *consistently* successful midfield partnership with anyone - for club or for country.

Whether it’s Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano, Momo Sissoko, Lucas Leiva or Frank Lampard, Gerrard just does not function successfully in a midfield two.

The main reasons for this are his positional indiscipline and hero complex. Basically, Gerrard always wants to do everything himself, which means he abandons his position on a frustratingly regular basis, leaving holes for others to exploit.

As a result of this, the Liverpool team has been chopped and changed in every conceivable way over the years in an attempt to accommodate Gerrard; the 4-2-3-1 formation that Liverpool currently plays is the only formation that suits him.

What about playing on the right? That’s a no-go too as Gerrard has made it quite clear that he doesn’t want to play out there, even though it would probably be the best thing for the team.

So – we’re left with his current position - playing behind the striker. In Liverpool’s current system, this is the only place Gerrard can play, and for him to be successful, he needs two midfielders doing all the donkey work for him.

And therein lies the problem: The whole team is set-up to get the best out of Gerrard, which means that if Liverpool buy another top quality striker and accommodate him *regularly*, the formation would need to switch to 4-4-2. This means we’re back at square one again, i.e. trying to fit Gerrard in somewhere that not only benefits the team but satisfies his ego.

If Liverpool were to sign David Villa - or a striker of comparable quality - such a player is not going be happy sitting on the bench waiting for Crouch-like cameo roles. A player like Villa needs to play regularly and should play regularly, or what’s the point of spending all the money?

Furthermore, Fernando Torres is not going to be happy sitting on the bench regularly to accomodate someone else, and Liverpool fans wouldn’t stand for that anyway, so what is the solution?

Unfortunately, the solution is that Liverpool cannot and should not buy another Torres-quality striker whilst Gerrard is at the club.

Of course, none of this would be an issue if Gerrard could successfully function in a midfield two, but that truth is, he cannot.

If Liverpool's current formation is the template for the future, then buying another top quality striker would just create unfair competition for places up front.

And as we’ve seen over the last year, intense competition for places causes friction and recrimination. For example, in midfield, we had a ridiculous situation where 5 midfielders were competing for 2 first team slots.

This unfair competition forced out Momo Sissoko and caused Xabi Alonso to seriously consider his future. Indeed, Rafa was lucky that Alonso was injured for so long earlier in the season, otherwise the selection headache in midfield would have been even more acute.

The same goes for the striking roles this year - With Rafa favouring one up-front, Dirk Kuyt has been converted into a right midfielder and Peter Crouch has been stuck on the bench for most of the season

If someone like Villa was to sign, and Liverpool continued to play with one up front, it would be a recipe for disaster. Somewhere along the line, either Villa or Torres would become dissatisfied with warming the bench. Alternatively, Rafa could try and accommodate both strikers by playing 4-4-2, but this would cause the team to become unbalanced again for the reasons I’ve outlined above.

An example of this imbalance is the recent Liverpool-Arsenal Champions League game at Anfield. In a break from the usual formation, Rafa played 4-4-2, with Crouch and Torres up front and Gerrard on the left.

By his own admission, Gerrard put in one of his worst performances in a red shirt! If Villa or some other top striker was to come to the club, these poor performances from would (in my view) be a regular occurrence, especially if Gerrard was played in a position he dislikes.

A team with a 4-4-2 formation with Villa and Torres together could line up like this (Using the current squad):

------------------------ Reina

Arbeloa --------- Carra --------- Agger -------- Aurelio

Pennant ------ Gerrard ------ Mascherano ----- Babel

--------------- Villa ------------- Torres

The Gerrard-Mascherano partnership *does not work*. For proof of this, just examine the games in which the partnership has been utilized and then look at the results and the turgid performances that came out of it.

In any event, as discussed above, Gerrard in the center *consistently* is a non-starter.

The 4-4-2 formation *would* work if the team lined up like this:

---------------------- Reina

Arbeloa --------- Carra --------- Agger -------- Aurelio

Gerrard ------ Alonso ------ Mascherano ----- Babel

------------------ Villa -------- Torres

Everybody with any objectivity and sense knows that the best position for Gerrard in a 4-4-2 is on the right, but the incredible sulk will never allow this to happen.

So choices are thus: Play 4-4-2 with Gerrard in the center or play 4-2-3-1 with Gerrard behind Torres.

Surely the answer is to stick with what works? Rafa has *finally* hit upon a winning formula in the premiership after 4years of trying - it would surely be madness to change things now...wouldn't it?

As long as Gerrard is at the club, Rafa should stick with the 4-2-3-1 formation and spend any transfer funds on creative right and left wingers/midfielders and pacy, creative fullbacks.

Ultimately, there is no point in signing a striker of Villa’s calibre if Rafa plans to continue with the 4-2-3-1 formation. I don’t want to see another top quality player wasting away on the bench, just like Peter Crouch has been wasted this

A player like Villa will not and should not play second fiddle to anyone. He - or indeed any top striker – should only be signed if Liverpool are going to play 4-4-2 with Gerrard on the right.

Of course, there is a third option: Sell Gerrard and buy a midfielder who can function successfully as part of a midfield two...

*Cue mass hysteria and Liverpool fans collectively foaming at the mouth*

This article was first published in April 2008. Reposted in June during Euro 2008 to coincide with increased David Villa speculation.