Griezmann proving France's MVP in defence of World Cup crown

A 2-1 victory over Denmark secured France’s passage to the knockout stage on Saturday. The defending champions arrived at the World Cup on the back of some poor results in the Nations League, but they became the first team to qualify for the round of 16 in Qatar. 

Kylian Mbappe was the star of the show in the defeat of Denmark. Playing in his favoured left-sided role, the Paris Saint-Germain forward scored twice against a team that had beaten France home and away in 2022. This time, on the biggest stage of all, Mbappe ensured that did not happen again. 

Despite his two goals, the 23-year-old was pushed hard for the Man of the Match award by Antoine Griezmann. At 8.48, the Atletico Madrid attacker has a higher average WhoScored rating at this tournament than any of his teammates. Mbappe is France’s top scorer, but Griezmann is the man who makes the side tick.  

At the World Cup four years ago, Griezmann played as a second striker behind Olivier Giroud, with Mbappe on the right. Didier Deschamps balanced out the side by fielding Blaise Matuidi as a narrow left-sided midfielder, making a three in the engine room when Mbappe inevitably joined the attack. 

With Karim Benzema brought back into the international fold ahead, France switched between a 4-3-3 formation and a 3-4-1-2 at Euro 2020. It was an unsuccessful summer for Les Bleus, who were knocked out by Switzerland in the last-16. 

This time around, Deschamps has released the handbrake and selected a front four of Ousmane Dembele, Griezmann, Mbappe and Giroud, configured in a 4-2-3-1. Griezmann has the most tactically interesting role.  

When France have possession, he is given license to drift across the pitch. The left-footer often pops up near Dembele on the right, giving his team the chance to create an overload down that side.

He also drops deeper into midfield to dictate the tempo of France’s play and progress the ball up the pitch. Griezmann is averaging 55.5 passes per 90 minutes, compared to 44.4 per 90 at the European Championship.  

He is more involved in the play and is adept at keeping the ball moving, but Griezmann is not unadventurous in possession. As of Sunday, no player in the tournament could better his rate of 4.5 key passes per game. The 31-year-old has one assist so far, but more are bound to follow. 

Interestingly, Deschamps had previously acknowledged Griezmann’s penchant for moving back into midfield when he was deployed up front. "Even when he is attacking, that does not prevent him from coming back very deep, sometimes too much for my taste," he said in the run-up to the tournament. 

The manager’s solution has been to start him in a more withdrawn role in the first place. With some attackers, the worry would be a lack of contribution without the ball. But Griezmann has always been willing to press and he does not shirk a tackle either. He made four against Denmark, a tally matched only by holding midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni. 

"I love winning the ball back and going back to defend. Wherever I play, I try to give it my all on the pitch for the good of the team," Griezmann said on the eve of the competition. Needless to say, you do not play more than 300 games for Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid without a strong work ethic. 

Deschamps would have been concerned by Griezmann’s lack of game time a few months back. Atletico had loaned back the forward from Barcelona, but they limited his minutes because they did not want to trigger a £34.5m clause in the deal that would have obliged them to buy him outright. Griezmann routinely entered games after the hour mark, an unsatisfactory arrangement that was bad news for both Atletico and France. 

However, an agreement between the two clubs was reached in October and Griezmann became much more prominent thereafter. The initial stand-off might actually have worked in France’s favour: Griezmann has played fewer minutes than most this term, potentially making him fresher for the World Cup. 

It remains to be seen whether Deschamps, who has a tendency towards caution, sticks with the same front four in the knockout stage, where stiffer tests await. Right now, though, Griezmann has made himself undroppable.