After the famous “La Decision” ended up being the wrong decision for Antoine Griezmann last summer, Atlético Madrid’s coveted World Cup winner is now finally changing colours and will continue his career away from the Spanish capital and the Rojiblancos.
With the footballing world going crazy about this versatile forward, it is only fitting that we do a take a look at him and dissect his player profile before he sets up towards a new chapter of his life in the season to come. So without further ado, this tactical analysis will profile Antoine Griezmann, give you his scout report from Atlético Madrid and how he could fit the tactics of his future club.
Player overview
Antoine Griezmann is 28-year-old forward that used to play his football under the rigid hand of Diego “Cholo” Simeone since 2014 when he joined from Real Sociedad. The French forward is very much regarded as one of the best forwards on the planet and is characterised by exceptional technical ability, lethality, positioning, and creativeness.
Some of his best plays stem from his extraordinary reading of the game and footballing IQ, utilising brains and broad with sheer pace to beat his opponent and set up his teammates at the same time. Even though he started off his career as a left-winger, he is now more of a striker and a false nine that has enough positional freedom to roam the final third almost to his heart’s extent.
Being under development under Simeone for years, defending and doing it wholeheartedly and above all else, proficiently, is no stranger to this forward as he tends to both drop deep to assist in the defensive duties as well as initiate transitions and regaining of possession.
In short, Griezmann is the whole package and mostly a rarity in today’s market. We’ll now go through his most prominent traits and do an analysis on them in detail.
Positioning and movement
One of the key aspects of a lethal forward is his positioning. Griezmann is great at creating and exploiting space as he will often position himself or rather, reposition himself according to the need of a certain scenario. As a general rule of thumb, and in a more familiar system like Simeone’s, the Frenchman will mostly be found in-between the lines and as the deeper forward of the striking tandem up front.
In that sense, we can actually regard Griezmann as a false nine striker of sorts that oscillates between various different positions on the pitch and often moves freely inside them, giving the good old 4-4-2 some added fluidity and creativity.
