SFraser, I think it's worth pointing out that because of all of this the striker is now acting as something of a decoy a lot of the time, a player that occupies the central defenders to allow space for the wide attackers. Not only does Villa struggle with this particular part of the game, it takes away from many of the parts he excels in as well. We saw for Spain how against a team of heavily packed and condensed central midfields and defences how he struggled to get involved when he was moved down the middle, because not only was he limited space to work himself but he struggled to be the provider of space to the other attackers as well.
Torres was woefully out of form but he still did the basics of the role a lot better than Villa did, because it's a role he can do, but there are question marks about Villa in that area. He's played up front on his own for Valencia to great effect but he's never did it for a team that dominated possession to the extent Barcelona or Spain do. I think it could take a lot away from his game.
That being said it's an incredibly fluid attack and Villa will inevitably drift out to the left and the right with Pedro and Messi happily coming centrally to provide a similarly direct threat, and he'll score plenty from doing so, but again they'll never occupy the centre backs in the same way.
Torres was woefully out of form but he still did the basics of the role a lot better than Villa did, because it's a role he can do, but there are question marks about Villa in that area. He's played up front on his own for Valencia to great effect but he's never did it for a team that dominated possession to the extent Barcelona or Spain do. I think it could take a lot away from his game.
That being said it's an incredibly fluid attack and Villa will inevitably drift out to the left and the right with Pedro and Messi happily coming centrally to provide a similarly direct threat, and he'll score plenty from doing so, but again they'll never occupy the centre backs in the same way.
