Title Success Is Beyond Atletico Madrid Without a Firing Antoine Griezmann
Atletico Madrid moved back up to second place in La Liga with a 0-0 home draw against top-four rivals Villarreal on Sunday night, but it wasn't enough of a positive result to put them back in contention with league leaders Barcelona.
Los Rojiblancos have been formidable in defence all season long, but on occasions, they have lacked the ingenuity and bravery in attack to take points from big games, with the Yellow Submarine being a particularly difficult opponent. The reverse fixture saw Atleti lose 1-0, meaning they have failed to score against Villarreal all season.
Some of the question marks over that lack of success will fall in the direction of striker Antoine Griezmann, who has been out of form over the last few weeks. Without helping the Frenchman back to his best, Atleti cannot hope to challenge for major honours this season, either in La Liga or the UEFA Champions League.
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Villarreal misfires
It wasn't all down to the No. 7 against Villarreal by any means; despite dominating territory and having the ball in good areas down the channels, the final pass and decision when to shoot was poor from Atletico in general. Koke and Saul have both been instrumental in the last month or so, but neither found their timing or touch in the last 20 metres of the pitch on this occasion.
Fernando Torres worked hard without reward through the middle, while Griezmann toiled and looked for space from the right hand side, but he was unsuccessful in helping the build-up and utterly ineffective when he attempted to cut infield.
The Villarreal defence was strong and organised, despite missing one or two familiar faces, and it has to be said boss Marcelino got his tactics quite right in the defensive half, even if they were lacklustre and infrequent in their forays into the attacking half.
Big-game Griezmann?
Griezmann didn't have a key central role this time out after a few ineffective displays in a row, but this is far from the first time he hasn't been able to find the back of the net against major opposition.
Indeed, against the top five this season—Barcelona, Real Madrid, Villarreal and Sevilla—Griezmann has yet to find the back of the net even once. It's not limited to this season, and it isn't limited to La Liga either; the No. 7 only found the back of the net against Galatasaray in the Champions League group stage.
"Worrying stat & trend from last season with Griezmann. One goal so far this season v top six opposition
— Kieran Canning (@KieranCanning) February 21, 2016"
"Or to put that in an even more severe way. Griezmann & Torres have the same number of goals v top six opposition this season
— Kieran Canning (@KieranCanning) February 21, 2016"
When Jackson Martinez joined Atleti in the summer, it was intended he would provide an alternative, and regular, source of goals from the front line. That didn't work out at all, of course, and the Colombian has departed for China, and Atletico's problems remain as a result.
It's now five Liga games since Griezmann did score, during which time Atleti have only scored five goals and only won two games.
Final thirds
It's obvious where Atleti's improvements need to come between now and May if silverware is to be added: the final third of the season needs more risk and more reward in the final third of the pitch.
Atletico have by far the best defence in La Liga, with just 11 conceded in 25 games. The issue is Diego Simeone's team have only scored 35 in the same time, lower than any team in the top nine...with one exception—Sunday's opponents in the 0-0 draw, Villarreal.
It's easy to point the finger at Griezmann because he's the main man, the big star, the continually linked transfer target, but much more is required from the young pretenders. Angel Correa is prodigiously talented but annoyingly inconsistent, not just in overall performances but in how much he gets involved within the same game from half to half, while Luciano Vietto has still looked nowhere near his best from last season.
That said, they are younger and less experienced and have been signed with future seasons in mind. If Atletico are to improve enough to pick up trophies this season, it's Griezmann they need to rediscover the goal trail and fire Atletico to a relentless run of wins.
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