Liverpool are apparently waiting in the wings to snap up Spanish striker David Villa and, whilst capturing the Spanish maestro would be a dream acquisition, the Steven Gerrard conundrum means that signing any top-quality striker right now would be a recipe for disaster.

Villa himself seems positive about the idea of coming to Liverpool and clearly relishes the prospect of teaming up with Fernando Torres. Alas, as great a signing this would be for Liverpool, with 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 he 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. Simply put, 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 employ 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 Villa - or a striker of comparable quality - such a player is not going be happy sitting on the bench waiting for Peter Crouch-like cameo roles. A player like Villa needs to play regularly and should play regularly, otherwise what’s the point of spending all the money?

Furthermore, Torres is not going to be happy sitting on the bench regularly to accommodate 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-class 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 five players were competing for two first-team slots.

This unfair competition forced out Sissoko and caused Alonso to seriously consider his future. The same goes for the striking roles. With Rafa favouring one up front, Dirk Kuyt was converted into a right midfielder and Crouch was 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 to accommodate both strikers by playing 4-4-2 or 4-3-3, but this would cause the team to become unbalanced again for the reasons I’ve already outlined.

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 full-backs.

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!

To read the full article, please visit: http://www.liverpool-kop.com/2008/04/why-steven-gerrard-is-reason-liverpool.html