Antoine Griezmann was Barcelona’s big scoop of the summer as the Frenchman joined the Catalans from Atlético Madrid for €120m. And even though he managed to bag three goals and assist further two so far in the 2019/20 campaign, the first months away from the capital were quite rocky for Blaugrana’s World Cup winner.
This tactical analysis scout report will use analysis to try and figure out why is Griezmann struggling to adapt to Ernesto Valverde’s tactics and what seems to be his problem at the moment.
Positional preference
The core of the problem is rather simple at first – Griezmann is no winger despite spending some time out wide at the beginning of his career. If we take a quick look at his time with Atlético Madrid, we can easily conclude where exactly does the Frenchman feel most comfortable.
In the 257 games he played for Rojiblancos, he managed an impressive 133 goals but the key information here is actually that he was played as the team’s centre-forward in 121 of those games, scoring 73 out of the 133 goals in the process.
This shows us that there is no doubt – Griezmann arrived at Barcelona hoping to become their striker, deployed either by himself up top or accompanying Luis Suárez in a formation that utilises a tandem in the forward line.
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