“The Coach is in Charge”, Koeman Responds to Griezmann

Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman has responded to Griezmann’s call to be played in the middle of the attack.

Antoine Griezmann has not exactly found his footing after his big-money move from Atletico Madrid, and it can be argued that this is because he has always been deployed on the right side of the attack as opposed to playing through the middle, which is what made him a giant in European football.

After the UEFA Nations League Group C fixture against Croatia, in which Antoine Griezmann scored an early goal, France’s Coach Didier Deschamps revealed to the press that his striker is not happily playing on the right for Barcelona. The Antoine Griezmann subsequently praised his manager for knowing ‘exactly where to play him’.

However, Koeman seems to have been less than pleased to hear this, saying that he believes that it is his decision as to where to play each member of his team. According to Koeman, the right is the perfect place for the former Atletico Madrid man to play, and that is not going to change anytime soon.

This is not surprising, given the fact that the number 10 position has for a long time been reserved for talismanic Argentine Lionel Messi. Antoine Griezmann will feel hard done by his coach’s rebuttal, considering that he scored at least 20 goals a season for each of his 5 seasons in Madrid, a feat he has shown no signs of replicating with his current team.

Koeman is trying to pick up the pieces of a bruised and battered Barcelona that crashed out of the Champions League in a humiliating style and had to controversially and unceremoniously part with some of its best players at the end of last season while bringing in no notable additions.

After the quarrel between Messi and Koeman, are we at the beginning of a new saga between Antoine Griezmann and Ronald Koeman?