Antoine Griezmann

JamDav1982

Senior Member
To be fair the data set is pretty small, but yeah, old Messi nominally as RW has been a weakness. I dont disagree. The question is if we fixed our other issues (LW, midfield) would we have won the CL last season? Would have Frenkie instead of Rakitic won us the Liverpool tie? Or a fully fit Dembele? Or someone like Mane?

Generally Messi has been a major advantage for us, and he can realistically play only two positions now: false RW or as a hanging striker (not false 9) with two mobile, goalscoring forwards in front of him. Both have setbacks, but with the latter theres hope for Griezmann. And if it doesnt work out we have decent talent coming up for wide positions (I am repeating myself).

Messi is the biggest advantage on the ball and the biggest weakness off it and made worse when in a formation where other old players expose that weakness.

Barca would be better served him staying higher up park on RW and letting midfield take more control. Either that or going with three more narrow players up top that interchange like Argentina do and Barca did with Paulinho.

Messi gets the ball too much in deeper areas when he takes a lot of risks and it is leaving Barca one dimensional and too reliant on him producing magic.
 

MTL_Barca

Well-known member
Things he brings matter a lot in CL. Yea, overall he's not a great fit, but if he gives 100% and scores in CL away he can be an asset. We'd be in trouble right now without his goal vs Napoli away.

He's a world class player, with great mentality, great workrate, and stamina. Who can score big goals vs big teams.

That sounds still quite average for a world class player with a 120M price tag. He obviously is a great player but i don't think he'll ever play to his full potential for us.
 

JohnN

Senior Member
He was the best man in the team that won the WORLD CUP. Is that world class enough for you?

I don't really know how he did back then. As long as he is with Barca his numbers and the eye test, both paint the same picture. Good overall attributes, some better than others but not a single exceptional one. Combine that with our "system" and we get this season's results. Not bad, not great, just ok.
 

malvolio

Senior Member
He was the best man in the team that won the WORLD CUP. Is that world class enough for you?

what are you smoking mate? mbappe was france's best player in that tournament.

problem with him is that he looks like he came here to play with an alibi. all we hear is that he works hard, but frankly i rarely see any benefit in him prancing around and doing fuck all on that left side.

he rarely takes risks and can't be relied upon to take over when messi or suarez are missing. i would have expected of him to turn it up at least when those two are missing. instead he disappears from matches and gets subbed early.

120m + 20m per season over 5 years was worth all the bullshit and drama of getting him? the guy just came here because he got bored of simeone, thought about winning something and hanging around with his french mates. after all he didn't take any risk in coming here - one last fat paycheck(bigger than what he would have got at atletico), still in spain and with the added bonus of barcelona being a great city, maybe better than madrid.
 

Batistuta9

New member
We should never have bought him in the first place, especially after the 'decision' stunt the year before. Even though I don't want neymar back, I would do it if we could swap and get rid of griezmann. Neymar is clearly better
 

JamDav1982

Senior Member
If Barca win anything this season Griezmann will have been a big part of it.

Scored opening goal multiple times and scores away in CL when Suarez has not done it in years.

While he is one of the few that can play with work rate and defensive ability that other top teams have.

Signing has not been worth 120m to play him on wing with Messi and Suarez and he looks frustrated/lost at times as well as some poor finishing but when all is said and done he will have contributed a lot to anything Barca achieve.

Would swap him for Neymar in an instant though but he wont want France.
 

malvolio

Senior Member
he's one of the worst transfers overall in our history,at least for me.

i would rate him as a ibrahimovic type of transfer. we over payed for a guy who is a bad fit for us and we could have achieved the same things without him.

jamdav says that he still contributed and any success that we might achieve is on him too. fair enough, but this applies to all squad members. yes, even rakitic.

also i understand that he is played out of position when on the left(even though he would have known that before he signed the contract) but he didn't do shit even when played on the right or center. so the only thing to do is sell back to atletico at a loss.
 

henias

New member
For what he's worth, he's definitely a flop in the history of Barcelona's transfers. I still can't wrap my head around this transfer, less so than Dembele's.

A few goals here and there seemed to have been boasted excessively, due to his status of a player; the quality of the goals itself are often less discussed, which to me, are prominently lacklustre: often goals which are tap-ins, easy 1 on 1s, with little to no pressure from the opposition. The technique of his shooting abilities are thoroughly limited: mostly chips, lacking in power and finesse, one footed and of course accuracy. Poor conversion rate all around. Open play which invloves dribbling is where he struggles alot, often dropping deeper and deeper where the least pressure from opponents are, characterised by constant passing back, with no intention of driving the ball forward. Struggles with acceleration and gets dispossessed easily.

The main irony is that he is hardly criticised by some fans because of his low profile safe style which yield little mistakes, which in itself should be criticised because of his little to no contribution in attacking duties. This mindset conincides with the philosophy of former coach Valverde, which is to play as conservative as possible. Even if Griezmann were to be more bold, I doubt he would ever excel because he is simply not accustomed and equipped with the talent of a generic Barcelona attacker.

His stamina and workrate are of course, are undisputed with often many pointing out this attribute of his. If he were to be placed side by side with defenders or defending midfielders, he may emerge as on par. However, placed with some of the top modern attackers, notably strikers and wingers, he would be no where near.

The numbers during his Atletico days can cloud the judgement of his ability as a player, for me it's quantity over quality. But even so there was a steep decline in that over the years. Considering he hasn't turned up during Atletico's 2 CL finals, his goal against Barca in CL was offside, and hasnt really troubled Barca in so many years of La Liga, with stat padding against the easiest oppositions, just happened to win the World Cup with a overly stacked France team where Mbappe and Pogba stole the show, given the luxury of the free roaming main man role and penalty taker, I'm seriously doubt if he is even a world class player. He depends on his team alot where he usually just focused on tracking back and picking up lose balls, that in itself is hardly anything to shout about, at least in my book he is simply not good enough, where impact of great players and often change the game and come in as clutch.

He simply isn't that.
 

JamDav1982

Senior Member
i would rate him as a ibrahimovic type of transfer. we over payed for a guy who is a bad fit for us and we could have achieved the same things without him.

jamdav says that he still contributed and any success that we might achieve is on him too. fair enough, but this applies to all squad members. yes, even rakitic.

also i understand that he is played out of position when on the left(even though he would have known that before he signed the contract) but he didn't do shit even when played on the right or center. so the only thing to do is sell back to atletico at a loss.

No that is a terrible argument if you are comparing Rakitic to a player that has scored the opening goal for Barca multiple times and scored away in CL. Something Barca have struggled to do.

When he played in centre he scored and assisted at home to Betis for example in one of best team performances of season but unless given time to play that role cant expect to be top class week in week out.

He is about only Barca player bar FDJ in midfield and attacking third that can put in the work rate required at top level and he is as good as any attacking player out there in that aspect.

120m too much for him to play where has but not been anywhere near a flop and fair bit of season to go.

He has been a in the balondor top three twice in FIFA team of year etc he is world class just doesnt suit this barca.
 

JamDav1982

Senior Member
For what he's worth, he's definitely a flop in the history of Barcelona's transfers. I still can't wrap my head around this transfer, less so than Dembele's.

A few goals here and there seemed to have been boasted excessively, due to his status of a player; the quality of the goals itself are often less discussed, which to me, are prominently lacklustre: often goals which are tap-ins, easy 1 on 1s, with little to no pressure from the opposition. The technique of his shooting abilities are thoroughly limited: mostly chips, lacking in power and finesse, one footed and of course accuracy. Poor conversion rate all around. Open play which invloves dribbling is where he struggles alot, often dropping deeper and deeper where the least pressure from opponents are, characterised by constant passing back, with no intention of driving the ball forward. Struggles with acceleration and gets dispossessed easily.

The main irony is that he is hardly criticised by some fans because of his low profile safe style which yield little mistakes, which in itself should be criticised because of his little to no contribution in attacking duties. This mindset conincides with the philosophy of former coach Valverde, which is to play as conservative as possible. Even if Griezmann were to be more bold, I doubt he would ever excel because he is simply not accustomed and equipped with the talent of a generic Barcelona attacker.

His stamina and workrate are of course, are undisputed with often many pointing out this attribute of his. If he were to be placed side by side with defenders or defending midfielders, he may emerge as on par. However, placed with some of the top modern attackers, notably strikers and wingers, he would be no where near.

The numbers during his Atletico days can cloud the judgement of his ability as a player, for me it's quantity over quality. But even so there was a steep decline in that over the years. Considering he hasn't turned up during Atletico's 2 CL finals, his goal against Barca in CL was offside, and hasnt really troubled Barca in so many years of La Liga, with stat padding against the easiest oppositions, just happened to win the World Cup with a overly stacked France team where Mbappe and Pogba stole the show, given the luxury of the free roaming main man role and penalty taker, I'm seriously doubt if he is even a world class player. He depends on his team alot where he usually just focused on tracking back and picking up lose balls, that in itself is hardly anything to shout about, at least in my book he is simply not good enough, where impact of great players and often change the game and come in as clutch.

He simply isn't that.

He simply hasnt played 2 CL Finals for Atletico either.

This gets repeated to often and still now....its fake news.
 
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malvolio

Senior Member
No that is a terrible argument if you are comparing Rakitic to a player that has scored the opening goal for Barca multiple times and scored away in CL. Something Barca have struggled to do.

just as terrible as yours when you try to make it sound like griezmann is clutch for us and without him we wouldn't be were we are.

When he played in centre he scored and assisted at home to Betis for example in one of best team performances of season but unless given time to play that role cant expect to be top class week in week out.

that's just one example. let's go trough the goals scored by this expensive clown in the league:

he mainly scored his goals in games at home, that we won easily, against pretty weak opposition. only two times that you can say his goals were important were the two wins at home against villareal(2:1) and getafe(2:1). ah yes, and the draw against sociedad. while half of the times being played as a CF. whenever shit hits the fan the guy is nowhere to be seen.

griezmann-goals.png


so all that is left is that napoli tap-in. 120mil for a tap-in.

He is about only Barca player bar FDJ in midfield and attacking third that can put in the work rate required at top level and he is as good as any attacking player out there in that aspect.

like anyone gave a fuck about neymar not working hard on defense. let's be real, that's not what we have been missing since 2014/2015. in rome and liverpool we missed someone that is clutch and can score goals.
 
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