Paul Rouget, Media365: published on Tuesday July 2, 2024 at 1:57 p.m.
Starting on the right side during the Blues’ victorious round of 16 match against Belgium at the Euro (1-0), Antoine Griezmann had to adapt but suffered.
We didn’t really see a diamond. While we were expecting a new system from Didier Deschamps for the Euro round of 16, which the Blues won with difficulty against Belgium on Monday night in Düsseldorf (1-0), with a 4-4-2 diamond, we saw more of a 4-3-3, or even sometimes a 4-5-1. In front of a Jules Koundé who was logically elected man of the match, Antoine Griezmann was positioned on the right side, in a hybrid role that he had a lot of difficulty understanding, while his attacking partners, Kylian Mbappé and Marcus Thuram, also struggled.
“A capacity to adapt”
“I had to adapt,” explained the Atlético de Madrid player in the mixed zone. “I felt good, I tried to find depth, to make runs, to be in the middle, to bother the full-back to leave Jules all alone. I had two, three positions to shoot. I should have shot, I didn’t, I looked more for one-twos, to adapt. And to win.” A role that he initially explained he had not played since Real Sociedad, thus contradicting his coach, after asking for more support from the media. “Antoine regularly plays in this position with his club, he has the ability to adapt,” assured Didier Deschamps on TF1.
“Not the best position”
A “DD” who knows he can count on one of his most loyal soldiers, with whom relations have sometimes been a little strained, especially when it was Kylian Mbappé and not the Mâconnais who inherited the captain’s armband. “There was not the slightest doubt in my head. Afterwards, it’s just a question of balance. As I told you before the match, even if you had started on a diamond, there is always the possibility of having a player who is not in the best position”, reacted Deschamps. It remains to be seen whether he will repeat the experience against Portugal in the quarter-finals, or whether he will start Griezmann on the bench again, as against Poland.
