Has Setien Found a Way to Integrate Griezmann with Messi and Saurez?

After a waiting period which threatened to extend to infinity, we finally saw the much anticipated Messi-Saurez-Griezmann trident clicking together. Is this the start of something beautiful?

Finally, the much-awaited, much-anticipated trident clicked together - Messi, Saurez, and Griezmann, popularly known as the MSG. Is this the start of something new or just another false hope? Only time will tell. How Barcelona's season will end will depend heavily on the answer to this!

There were glimpses of hope in some of the earlier matches. But it's fair to say, those were mere aberrations. This was in contrast looked like the real deal. The difference was the way they were linking and how easily they fit into the system.

Since the time of his signing, Griezmann has struggled t link with Messi and Suarez, especially Messi. They always seemed to occupy each other's space and is the first season in Barcelona, he never was in sync with Messi. That killed a lot of attacks for Barcelona.

Did Setién's Change of Formation Helped?

The biggest problem for Griezmann has been that his natural position was occupied by Messi at Barcelona, and there is no way he was going to dislodge him off that. Neymar faced a similar dilemma in his first season, but immediately realized the problem and converted his playing style to suit Messi. The results were marvelous. It is safe to say that Neymar never enjoyed playing football like the way he did in Barcelona with Messi and Saurez.

Griezmann never realized that. The biggest problem for Griezmann was that he didn't have the Neymar skillset to make that change easily. He is a different kind of player compared to Neymar. That's where Setién's change of formation seemed to have helped him. This role is a familiar one for him and he knows what to do to link with Messi who will be orchestrating everything playing behind him.

Messi will be playing as a Striker and Creator in the role

For Messi, the biggest problem of playing centrally will be less space that will be afforded to him. In that backdrop, it becomes very essential for Griezmann and Saurez to pull players away from Messi. Messi will both a striker and creator in the role and only on those counter, we could see the mesmerizing runs from half-line.

Griezmann and Saurez, especially Griezmann will be tasked with creating space for the Captain to operate. At the same time, he will be demanded to drop back to link the play once the Captain moves further.

Will this be a Successful Transition?

The biggest question facing every one of us is whether what we saw in the last match is a permanent change or a one-off event. We recently we saw a lot of one-off events, we simply jumped on to those! Only time will tell whether Setién managed to solve the biggest task he was entrusted.

Regardless, we saw that these three can work together with absolute aplomb. But the key is to understand that they will not gel together like MSN. MSG's way of life has to be different. And that's the key.