Antoine Griezmann 2019/20: His issues at Barcelona – scout report

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 Blaugranas World Cup winner.

This tactical analysis scout report will use analysis to try and figure out why is Griezmann struggling to adapt to Ernesto Valverdes 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.

So far, that hasn’t happened since Barcelona prefer the 4-3-3 system as opposed to Diego Simeone’s 4-4-2 Griezmann is used to. In the former scenario, the Frenchman is delegated to the left as long as Suárez is on the pitch.

But obviously, that hasn’t really worked out for him as his performances diminished and he is yet to make a significant contribution to the team while playing out wide.

This tactical analysis scout report will now turn to an analysis of both of these positions and try and find reasons for the Frenchman’s struggles.

Tactical analysis – left-wing

One thing that we’ve seen so far and can say for sure is that he won’t really thrive at his current left-wing role. The reason behind this is a straightforward one – out wide, Griezmann is not given enough freedom to operate, is limited in what he can offer and often ends up isolated from the team.

What we’re used to seeing from him is brilliant movement that creates space for others. At Atlético Madrid, and also at Barcelona when given the chance, Griezmann would often drop to deeper positions in the pitch in order to receive the ball, drag the marker and then start the attack himself.

When deployed out wide, however, his tendencies to support the build-up are mostly wasted because Barcelona lose any sort of presence further up the pitch and without runners to swap positions with or players who simply give him an option to advance the ball via his passing, he suddenly becomes invisible.

Notice below how that often looks on the pitch.

Griezmann has dropped deeper to receive the ball but is easily collapsed upon and has nowhere to go. Notice how his absence up front has left a lot of unused free space but with no one to exploit it, this becomes a weakness for Barcelona rather than an advantage.

Similarly, below we can see more examples of how teams adapt and can effectively mark him out of the game. Since he’s not the type of player who often beats his man with pace and skill, his wide positioning and hugging the touchline actually work against him in that scenario.

Notice b