As a Liverpool fan who came to the game under Rafa Benitez, I'm waaay too familiar with the 4-2-3-1 formation so commonly used at this year's World Cup. It still pays dividends at the international level, where defenses aren't quite as familiar with each other or their opponents, but it feels like its time has passed at the club level. Last season was a debacle for many reasons at Anfield, but one of the key problems was the isolation of the striker. When fit, Torres was often stranded upfield, knocked about by a double-team from opposing center backs, and harassed to the point of being taken out of his game. Torres still finished with a respectable goal total for the games he played, but he never looked comfortable or happy on the pitch. When a lesser player like David N'gog filled the role, he was even easier to negate. Benitez had success with the system in the EPL up until last year because of Xabi Alonso's destabilizing effect on a defense. His ability to spray the ball to any part of the final third from midfield meant the wingers had to be constantly accounted for -- not just where they were, but where they could run to. That forced defenses to play with more spacing. Without him, though, fullbacks could simply mark the wingers by themselves and the CBs could sit on/assault the striker the entire game; no one was likely to send a long ball to the perfect spot any longer. Xabi Alonso is an extremely rare talent, and while 4-2-3-1 has worked without him elsewhere, it now feels somewhat 'solved' by Premier League defenses without his particular abilities on the field. No system should require such a tough-to-find caliber of player to be effective, and I'm hoping to see less of it at Liverpool this year. Sadly, though, Roy Hodgson is known for a 4-5-1, which is basically a flatter, more defensive (gulp) version of the 4-2-3-1. And once again, it leaves the striker all by his lonesome. Today in the Guardian, Jonathan Wilson forecasts the emergence of the 4-2-1-3, essentially the Barcelona formation which the Spanish national team also deployed with many of the same players. The key differences between 4-2-1-3 and 4-2-3-1 are: 1) the forward presence of the wingers alongside the striker, and 2) the more withdrawn presence of the central playmaker (Xavi at Barca, Fabregas at Arsenal). Wilson highlights the value of the wingers/central playmaker's ability to interchange positions and flit in and out of the gaps of the defense. Because they're farther upfield and out of the way of the withdrawn playmaker, the wingers can cut inside without killing the spacing of their attack, and this has proven very effective against a traditional back four of late. It basically provides the same destabilization as a Xabi Alonso -- because players are working the gaps more effectively, defenders need to keep better spacing, and there's room to pass and move for everyone up front. What Wilson doesn't stress is how helpful this is for the lone striker. Instead of being isolated up front in the 4-2-3-1, he's aided by wingers who stretch the D out wide but also cut inside to draw attention from the center backs. When your striker is your best player, as in the case of Liverpool, the 4-2-1-3 feels like the key to freeing him up to wreak havoc (however much a banged-up Torres struggled in the World Cup). With a front 4 of Gerrard/Cole/Kuyt/Torres, Liverpool could employ this formation to great effect. Sadly, I suspect a conservative coach like Hodgson would never dream of such radical reform. Wilson suggests Arsenal are migrating to this formation; perhaps they'll be able to show the Prem's curmudgeons that 4-2-1-3 is the way of the future. Until the next major tactical development, of course.

"HateBarcaHateBarcaHateBarcaHATETHEMSOSOSOMUCH."

The only time the ubiquitous transfer madness surrounding Arsene Wenger's young captain will end will be when Wenger finally sells him to Barcelona for something like 15-20 times the price originally paid for him. In that sense, Wenger will have made quite the profit from his investment in Cesc Fabregas. But in many other senses, ones with names like "winning," he will lose out big-time in the deal. So it's easy to understand why he's sick of the constant worldwide chatter (much of it originating from Barcelona players and management) about Fabregas leaving:

"I believe Cesc loves the club, has shown his attachment to the club many times and I am very confident the story will end there," he said. "We want Cesc to be part of our club next year, and that is it. "There was a lot of unneeded talk. It is not pleasant to read that every day. Now the story has to stop. Cesc is our captain. He is so important to us and we want to keep him. That is why we were not listening to any offers. It was not a problem of money - just the desire to keep him at the club."

Woof. Not really hiding his emotional exhaustion over this, is he? It's pretty easy to understand why Wenger clings to Fabregas as his Arsenal binky. He's a once-in-a-generation player (well, outside of Catalonia, anyway) with outstanding vision, passing, and finishing abilities who's risen to the challenge of captaining a young Arsenal squad. We've already discussed the internal conflict Cesc Fabregas faces regarding the lure of Barcelona, and today we examine the choices before Arsene Wenger and the rights and responsibilities of managers facing this sort of problem.

The biggest variables in the entire Cesc equation are how he actually feels about going to Barcelona and what he's communicated to Wenger. Only the two of them can replace those variables with constants, so we're left to do a little matrixing to evaluate Wenger's best options.

1) Cesc firmly wants to stay and has told this to Wenger.

Easy choice. Tell Barcelona where they can stick it and encourage Fabregas to communicate privately to his Catalonian pals to shut the eff up. This could fit with Wenger's quotes above as well as Cesc's awkward reaction to being stuffed in a Barca shirt during the World Cup celebrations. But if Fabregas were truly certain of his decision, you probably wouldn't have the president of Barcelona saying recently that "the whole world knows he wants to come." That's obviously an exaggeration, but you know the whole smoke/fire thing, right?

2) Cesc firmly wants to stay but hasn't told this to Wenger.

That would be dumb. Let's assume Cesc isn't dumb.

3) Cesc firmly wants to leave and has communicated this to Wenger.

On the face of it, that'd make the quotes above pretty disingenuous, but if you read them, poor Arsene doesn't actually say that Cesc has told him he wants to stay. He just says, "I believe he loves the club" and that Cesc has shown attachment to Arsenal in the past. So it's not like it's inconceivable he's told Wenger he wants to leave this summer as had been rumored before the World Cup and that Wenger is just applying public pressure to try and change his mind. Now we're getting to some of the questions at the heart of the clusterf*** that is the transfer market. Does a player have a right to ask to be transferred? Should he be able to ask for it quietly so as not to be the bad guy to his current fan base? Should a team accommodate these kinds of requests? If so, how much should they hold out for a fair valuation vs. grant the player his desire to move on? Answering these definitively/abstractly can be difficult; every circumstance is different. In the case of Fabregas, I believe:

• He's earned the right to ask to move on. He's given his all for 7 years, captained the team at an age most players are breaking into a squad, and been nothing but positive about Arsenal in public. I definitely think this would be the wrong personal choice for Cesc, but if 7 years of excellent service doesn't earn you the right to cash in your chips, what does?
• He's earned the right to ask for it quietly. This might be a strange definition of "quietly," what with the whole football world buzzing about it, but Cesc himself has played coy, and I think that's understandable. Fabregas has no ill will towards Arsenal, and it doesn't do anyone any good to make him the jerk. Arguably, the team benefits from this arrangement, as well. Players who submit transfer requests never return the same price as those who could conceivably stay with their current club. No reason to give all the leverage to the other team unless PR means everything to you.

This brings us to the decision point of this option -- supposing Cesc really wants to go and has told Wenger, should they agree to transfer him? I suppose my answer's fairly obvious from the arguments above about Fabregas' service. They should accommodate the request because he's earned it, and they should do everything in their power to play up the possibility of Cesc staying to make sure they get fair(ish) value for the guy. In return, Cesc should play along and not tip off Barca that he'll definitely transfer; otherwise, people start getting spiteful and the game of diplomacy devolves into war. I hate to say it to my Arsenal friends, but those "I believe he loves us" quotes from Wenger fit right into this scenario, as well.

4) Cesc firmly wants to leave but hasn't told Wenger.

Definitely one of the legitimate possibilities. Fabregas may have made up his mind to leave but hasn't said anything to Wenger thanks to a sour cocktail of respect, fear, and shame. This would leave Wenger guessing, saying to himself "well, if Cesc wanted to leave for sure, he'd have told me by now, right? Maybe he really wants to stay! At the very least, maybe he's on the fence!" Enter the "I believe" quotes above once again -- maybe Wenger doesn't know what Fabregas wants and is trying to sway him publicly. If so, that's pretty tacky. If Cesc isn't answering your calls, then you probably have your answer. If he is answering your calls, then you should be calling him to ask where he stands. That way, you can say "Cesc told me he loves it here" and sound less like a creepy boy/girlfriend trying to hang on to their current squeeze through denial and self-delusion. Or you can start dealing with the realities of moving on. Either way, Wenger has only one choice here: get a fricking answer directly from your captain.

5) Cesc is conflicted and has sent mixed signals to Wenger.

This is probably the truth, isn't it? Cesc wants to go back to Barca but also feels the tug of loyalty and unfinished business -- not to mention being king of the hill -- at Arsenal. Wenger's probably gotten a sense of this internal conflict, or has outright been told about it, and is trying to tone down the Barca noise machine in the hopes that they stop eroding Cesc's dedication to Arsenal.

Handling this situation is challenging. On one hand, using rationality to attempt to convince someone that they should stick around when they're emotionally halfway out the door is a slow death. They will eventually leave, and you'll have only the extra time you spent torturing yourself over how to keep them to show for it. This seems to be the sort of pain Wenger is suffering as he publicly begs for decency from Barcelona. Then you have the fear that Cesc will be playing with a wandering eye and could struggle to give his all to Arsenal as he chews over whether he should finally demand to move on in [insert next transfer window here].

On the other hand, if you decide to cut ties now without a fight, you might get fair compensation but will immediately be stuck with the impossible task of trying to replace him. Why give up on a rare talent when you might've been able to convince him to stay? Shouldn't you tug on that loyalty as hard as you can to try and hold onto your star? In this scenario, there's only one acceptable answer to the Cesc Fabregas Dilemma from Arsene Wenger's perspective: make a private, verbal deal for Fabregas to stay for 12 months (or 24 if you're lucky) with a guarantee he can leave at the end. Wenger needs to approach Cesc and speak about the situation the way we do: everyone knows it's only a matter of time until you go, so let's set a definite window in which you commit totally to Arsenal (including publicly), and that at the end of that time you will be transferred to Barcelona.

Wenger may be incapable of this choice. He's built his entire team around Fabregas and seems to have assumed that Cesc would stick around for his entire career. Otherwise, I doubt he'd be so publicly exasperated over the speculation. But another 1-2 years of a fully focused Cesc may be the best he can hope for; it's certainly the most any Arsenal supporter I know is expecting. This sort of deal allows Fabregas to focus while knowing his long-term future will be settled, gives you a small window to win with him now, and ups the odds that you'll get a good price for him as long as the deal remains between the two of you. There are no easy choices in this final -- and most probable -- scenario. But Cesc is a grass-is-greener type of player (see his years-long saga to leave Barca in the first place), and the odds of him ever leaving Barcelona completely in the past are slim. If he'll give you one more good year in return for a verbal guarantee to move him in 2011, Wenger should take it. And start scouring the earth for the next Fabregas.

Will he or won't he? The question's plagued Arsenal fans for the last two years. Sometimes, he seems a lock to stay in London. Others, a lock to return to Barcelona. If you find this all a bit taxing, imagine how Cesc Fabregas feels. After winning the World Cup alongside Barcelona stars Iniesta, Xavi, Puyol, Pique, Valdez, and Pedro, the Cesc Fabregas Dilemma has to be reaching a fever pitch. Clearly, Barcelona players want him to come home, and new Barca president Sandro Rosell said last week, "The whole world knows he wants to come and that we want to sign him." "Will he or won't he?" is fun to discuss, but the more challenging (and less exasperating) question is "should he or shouldn't he?" Based on the information we have, what is the right personal choice for Cesc Fabregras? Fabregas was born a Catalonian. He "attended" his first Barca game at 9 months old. He worshiped Pep Guardiola and moved into a dormitory with the Barca youth squad at age 14, where he played alongside Leo Messi and developed a powerful connection with him on the pitch. Sounds like a lifelong dream of his to be part of Barcelona, right? Not so fast. Fabregas said of this time:

It was great to play for Barcelona, but when we played it was 30-0. What’s the point? I need to have competition. From when I was in the under-13s we started winning by 15 goals and I was thinking about leaving. If the coaches can see you’re better than the opposition, why don’t they let you play against a higher age group?

Some people tell the story of Fabregas as though he was reluctantly plucked from Barcelona, or somehow abandoned by them and salvaged by Arsenal. But the truth is that, despite captaining their U-16s, he was looking to leave. According to Cesc, he almost went to rival Espanyol, a curious choice for someone who supposedly bleeds their stripey colors, but he was talked into staying... until Arsenal called:

I stayed [after considering Espanyol] but then Arsenal came and I knew it was the chance of a lifetime. The first time I came to London I saw the facilities. I talked to the boss, they treated me as if I was an adult, a big player. I had the feeling something special could happen for me here.

Arsenal delivered Cesc 1st team football as a 16 year old (albeit in Cup matches) in 03-04, a chance to play in the Champs final the following season, and the #4 shirt and a starting place in every league game in 05-06. Now, he's the squad captain and talisman for the team. He's Arsenal's version of Barcelona's Xavi Hernandez (the only player on earth who could/does displace Cesc as a starting playmaker). This mini bio tells us a few things: 1) The loyalty factor is overrated. It was Cesc who chose to leave Barcelona, and he was so bored of dominating with their youth squad that he almost left for a hated rival. If he chooses to return there, it'll probably have much less to do with childhood loyalty than the media will make it seem. That's a good thing, by the way -- making major life decisions based on over-romanticizing your childhood can often lead to disappointment. 2) Fabregas values a challenge and a starring role as much as winning trophies. What offensive-minded player complains about winning 15-0? This one, apparently. He was bored with the lack of competition against Barca youth and also wanted first-team football badly. Today, some of the details have changed, but the choice between Arsenal and Barcelona still features many of the same dimensions. In 08-09, Barca pulled off the treble, and last year they won La Liga with a record-high points total. Winning will come (relatively) easily with one of the best club sides in a generation. But to go there means sitting behind Xavi and Iniesta in the biggest matches, unless he somehow displaces Pedro (a rising star in his own right) elsewhere on the pitch. At the very least, he will be placed in a more regular rotation with other starters and won't run with the starting XI for every game right away. Arsenal offers him *his* team, a squad built around his talents which he captains. Obviously, Arsenal's no Espanyol, either -- they're a top 10 team in terms of income and world fan base, and they're probably the most financially stable elite club on the planet. Sure, they won't be favorites in the Champions League like Barcelona, but they'll be in the title mix in the EPL every year, especially with Manchester United and Chelsea aging. They've suffered 5 trophy-less seasons, including a Champs loss to Barca last year (and the Champs final loss to them in '05), so if Arsenal brings home silverware this year or next, it'll be a huge accomplishment. And the odds are extremely high that it'd have everything to do with Cesc Fabregas. Based on what motivated him as a teenager, the choice is clear -- he should stay at Arsenal. He captains a top-10 club that presents a greater trophy challenge than Barcelona, where he'd be more likely to win but less likely to be the main reason. However, it's possible his priorities have changed. Maybe winning is now the most important thing to Cesc Fabregas. He's tasted international glory with Spain in 2008 and 2010 as a part-time player and still managed to make his mark. He found Iniesta for the World Cup winning goal -- surely he could have the same sort of impact at Barcelona immediately with the promise of a greater role in coming seasons. But f*** that. I say this as a Liverpool fan: choosing Barca over Arsenal is a LeBron-James-level copout. Cesc can pal around with his friends in Spain when he retires, which will arrive more quickly than he thinks. Very few people are handed the responsibility of shaping a good team into a championship team, and even fewer are capable of it. Fabregas has shown he might be one of those people, and the next 5 years of his life will define his entire legacy. He shouldn't spend them abdicating leadership so he can be just one of many names people remember as part of this great Barcelona team. And given that he's already missed out on 2 historic seasons, who's to say he'll ever rise into the top handful of players we associate with Barca's era of dominance? Whatever Arsenal accomplishes will be due much more to Fabregas than anything Barcelona achieves. And when you have no idea how high your ceiling is, you ought to push yourself as hard as you can to see if you can find it. Maybe Cesc will learn that he's not one of the best players in the world or one of the best leaders in the world. Or maybe he'll win the Premier League as a 24 or 25 year old captain and feel a sense of personal accomplishment unlike anything Barca can offer. Fabregas won't win nearly as much if he stays at Arsenal. In fact, he might not win anything. But my life experience tells me that people feel better when give everything they've got in the highest-pressure situations they can handle. Even if they come up short, they feel a satisfaction of pushing themselves to the limit that merely being good in a great situation never delivers. I think Fabregas understands this at some level, and that's why he chose to leave Barcelona's youth team in the first place. He wanted to see what he was really made of, and there's no reason to change course now. Forget fans -- players owe them full effort on the pitch (and arguably not being a total embarrassment off it), but after 7 years of service from a player like Fabregas, he shouldn't have to subjugate his personal goals to fans who will stab you in the back the minute you struggle (see: Torres, Fernando). Forget loyalty, childhood or otherwise -- neither Cesc nor Barcelona owe each other anything. Ditto Arsenal, by the way; he's done his job very well for a long time and has earned the right to make his own decisions. Forget friends -- he'll have the rest of his life to run around with them (not to mention the national team matches). This all comes down to legacy, the chance at true greatness. Fabregas can only learn who he truly is and how much he can actually accomplish in an Arsenal shirt, and that's worth more than a shelf of trophies that you know your team could've won without you. There are two reasons I'd legitimately accept for Fabregas leaving: 1) the loyalty factor, which we've already shown is not his thing, and 2) the physicality of the Premier League. Fabregas has struggled to stay healthy lately, and if he feels like the EPL delivers unreasonable physical abuse, I can understand why he'd leave. The typical English/American fan might see that as a masculine failure, but going somewhere you won't be stomped on for 90 minutes every week and see that called a defensive "strategy" would be appealing to any of us in his place. So if he plays that card after a move, I can accept it. Other than that, though, Cesc Fabregas ought to remain with his club. Unless he wants to be the new LeBron.

Boy, Thursday came and went, dinnit? I blame my staycation, which has sapped my Kuyt-esque work ethic and left me a Diet-Coked-up FIFA 10 addict. But enough about me, let's get back to the insights of Liverpool's least hated American associate, nate! Last time, we talked about the World Cup and England's shortcomings. Now we turn our attention to the transition as a fan from the international game to the club game -- how did nate do it? Who might he recommend following at the club level from this World Cup? And yeah, we get into whatever Liverpool's become, as well. Join the conversation after the jump!

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Some people are just a little too sensitive, and throughout his career, Samuel Eto'o has demonstrated he's one of them. The most recent drama: after being criticized by former Cameroon great Roger Milla, Eto'o hinted he could sit out the World Cup. That's an overreaction to the statements of one person unassociated with the Cameroon Football Federation -- certainly England would have nobody on the roster if every former-great-turned-bitter-blowhard's criticism stung their players as much. As the team captain, the highest scoring player in the history of Cameroon as well as in the African Cup of Nations, a gold medalist for his country and so forth, Eto'o ought to be comfortable enough with his national contributions to shrug it off. Fortunately, after some ass-kissing by CFF execs, he will be on the plane. Somebody out there doesn't like me! I cannot go on. Offputting moments like these have popped up with Eto'o from time to time. In 2007, he once refused to go in as a sub for Barca, and everyone from the press to Ronaldinho weighed in with consternation. Before that, he derided Madrid fans via a chant calling them bastards when celebrating the 04-05 La Liga title. (Thanks Wikipedia!). And when he was shipped off to Inter this summer along with a boatload of cash for Ibrahimovic, people whispered about it being a locker room move as much as anything else. But we come not to bury Eto'o but to praise him. Because he's just won 6 major trophies in 2 years with 2 different teams in 2 different leagues playing 2 different roles, and nobody seems to care that we'll never see anything like it again.

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One more big game left before the World Cup. In the meantime, much was decided atop the major European leagues this weekend. Barca looked the most dominant of the title-winners, smashing Valladolid 4-0 while never having to rev above 2nd gear to do it. Sure, Messi whiffed on an easy chance, and the first score came via a silly deflection, but they were pouring it on. This team feels more dominant than last year's treble winners -- or at the very least, winning games by huge margins looks easier for them. And 99 points in La Liga is a once-in-a-generation achievement, right? It'd be interesting to see how people would compare the two teams if the ref hadn't waived off their second goal at home in the Champs semis vs Inter. As we discussed, Chelsea nearly tripped over themselves on the way to winning the FA Cup. I don't know how you hoist a trophy with two hands around your neck (especially if you're penalty "shooter" Frank Lampard), but Chelsea managed to do it, thus completing the first double in Blues history. I admire a lot of the elements of this Chelsea team, but consistency is not one of them. Still, as I said yesterday, when you can screw up that many times and win a Cup anyway, you must be pretty good. Meanwhile, Inter must've watched that FA Cup final and decided that slamming the crossbar repeatedly and mixing in several ridiculous misses in the first half was the key to victory, because they played just about as poorly as Chelsea. And yet, like Chelsea, they came away victorious thanks to an excellent strike by their top marksman. It's 5 titles in a row for Inter in Serie A, a double already secured, and a chance at the historic treble on Saturday. If they manage to hold onto Mourinho and sign Steven Gerrard (who'd no doubt be rejuvenated by a move), we could be writing that same sentence next season.* The big boys keep winning and thus keep earning. What else would you expect? But hats off to the champions and their fans -- this is the month to revel in (preordained?) glory. *Yeah, yeah, with the title count upped to 6.

With Benitez trying to shut the door to Mascherano on them, it appears Barcelona's continuing to stoke the fires regarding Cesc Fabregas:

Txiki Begiristain admits Barcelona want to bring Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas back to the Nou Camp, but will not pay over the odds. Barca have long been linked with their former youth player, and sporting director Begiristain identified him as one of the few players capable of improving a team that won a domestic and European treble last season. "It depends on how much we want to spend," he said in Marca. "If we spend a lot of money, it is possible (to bid for Fabregas). We do not know how much it will be yet. We have not asked Arsenal. "If the amount is too high, we will not try."

First of all, I wish I was named Txiki Begiristain. Second of all, shouldn't Wenger laugh in their faces? Isn't Fabregas the lynchpin to Arsenal's strategy on the pitch? Plus, the dude's like 23, the team captain, and getting better; there's no way you could watch him walk away. Then again, who does he pattern his game after? Who was his childhood hero? None other than Pep Guardiola.