Griezmann - France's durable hybrid machine

* France - Morocco: 2h Thursday 15/12, on VnExpress.

On the English field in the quarter-finals of the World Cup 2022, Griezmann touched an important statistic. It was the 72nd consecutive appearance of the "number 7" for France. That number means that for more than five and a half years, Griezmann has always played with the team, whether it is a friendly match against Boliva, a qualifying match against Kazakhstan or the 2018 World Cup final. He does not complain, and does not need to. relax.

The Griezmann machine is durable in different meanings. It's not just that after 118 matches for the national team since his debut in March 2014, Griezmann has only missed four times, with two because of injury and twice because of being on the bench for the whole game. It is also the persistence of position and role on the field.

After the 2-1 win over Denmark in the group stage, there were many questions about Griezmann's new role in Qatar 2022. And coach Didier Deschamps replied: "He is important in defense not a sacrifice. "Griezmann likes to tackle the ball and the way he likes to play the decisive passes. Griezmann's intelligence brings balance to the team."

When N'Golo Kante and Paul Pogba were injured respectively, unable to attend the 2022 World Cup, there were many worries about the personnel in the midfield of Deschamps. And when the 54-year-old military leader announced his personnel to go to Qatar, many people complained that the midfield was too... workers. Doubts and anxiety also increased on the eve of the World Cup, when he said he would abandon the 3-4-1-2 system used before, to play with a four-man defence.

But what happened in the World Cup 2022 shows that the position and role of the 31-year-old player changes depending on the stage of French play, although in theory, he plays as a number 10 in the system. 4-2-3-1 or 4-2-1-3 behind Olivier Giroud and between Ousmane Dembele and Kylian Mbappe

Aurelien Tchouameni, with his experience in Monaco and Real Madrid, became a reasonable choice for a position in the midfield. Next to it will be a box-to-box midfielder: Youssouf Fofana and Matteo Guendouzi have both achieved impressive form at club level, but thanks to experience and well-timed revival, Adrien Rabiot has become Deschamps' number one choice. . Rabiot plays on the left of Tchouameni the way Blaise Matuidi did in Russia four years ago.

Since both Tchouameni and Rabiot are options that bring certainty, France needs someone who brings soft, flexible lines when deploying the ball like what Pogba often does. Without Pogba, Deschamps' remaining choices like Jordan Veretout or Eduardo Camavinga are not convincing enough. But this gap was filled by Deschamps with Griezmann with a tendency to step back to the stone as an attacking midfielder.

Now, Giroud is smashing records, Mbappe shines on the scoring stage, and Griezmann keeps things smooth, ticking in a hybrid role – a hybrid between an attacking midfielder and a midfield No. diligent and diligent.

When France has the ball, Griezmann is free to move across the width of the field. The left-footed player sometimes appeared near Dembele on the right, giving "Les Bleus" a chance to overwhelm the army on this wing. At times, he drifted to the right wing frequently, like in the win over Denmark. And at times, he retreated deep into the midfield where he was involved in the task of coordinating the ball, regulating the tempo and developing the ball upwards.

Even Deschamps "complained" that many times Griezmann was too enthusiastic to step back: "Even when involved in attack, it did not prevent Griezmann from going deep in midfield, sometimes too deep than he wanted. mine".

At this 2022 World Cup, on average every 90 minutes, Griezmann passes 55.6 passes. By comparison, at Euro 2020, the number was only 44.4 passes. This reflects the more regulatory involvement coming from Griezmann.

More involved in the rotation of the ball, but Griezmann does not lack daring and adventure. To date, on average every 90 minutes, the 31-year-old has made 4.1 passes, opening up opportunities for teammates. In terms of expected assist value, Griezmann currently leads the 2022 World Cup with 2.94. In fact, up to the semi-finals, he is co-leading the list of assists with 3 phases, equal to Harry Kane and Bruno Fernandes.

Two assists in the match against England also helped Griezmann overcome Thierry Henry and Zinedine Zidane to become the number one assist in France's history (28 assists).

A more concrete example is to look at the map of average position and individual passes in France's squad against Poland in the last 16 - one of Griezmann's best performances from the start of the tournament. . The Atletico Madrid player always maintains a connection with the central midfield pairing of Tchouameni and Rabiot below. But at the same time, with a tendency to play to the right, Griezmann not only coordinates with Dembele on the same wing, but also Mbappe on the opposite wing. It is proof of the role of a number 10 in the system.

Griezmann, by nature, remains an attacking player and does creative work. But with the years molded by Diego Simeone - a master of pragmatic defensive football at Atletico Madrid, he also learned a lot. And as shown at the 2022 World Cup, Griezmann shows the quality of a defensive support: ready to participate in pressure and ready to tackle the ball when necessary.

In terms of France's current squad, with players who have played at least 200 minutes, Griezmann averages 2.4 tackles per 90 minutes - equal to Tchouameni and just behind Upamecano, Rabiot and Theo Hernandez. In the match against Denmark in the group stage, Griezmann made four tackles and all were successful.

When ready to take on a new role in the French shirt, Griezmann also accepts that he will be away from the opponent's goal more, less attention. But for this player born in Macon, France, it is a duty to serve the national team.

"I know I won't be able to shoot 50 times to the opponent's goal every game, but I'm not obsessed with scoring either," said Griezmann.

But despite such sacrifices, Griezmann is still the third-highest scorer in the history of "Les Bleus" with 42 goals, just behind Giroud and Henry. That's still history, and now it's an evolved Griezmann: A hybrid machine, representing the strength of the team and the unity of the French team under Deschamps.