Talking Tactics: Antoine Griezmann has unfinished business - and he's given Orlando City SC a chance to dream

In the games between Griezmann's signature and the day he arrived, Orlando treaded water. A win over Montreal snapped a dire losing streak. They went into the World Cup break on a tidy run of just two losses in their last seven - not exactly mind-boggling, but a certain improvement from a woeful start to the campaign.

And then arrived Griezmann, all blonde hair and tricky feet. There was a real anticipation, too. What genre of this player would show up? What can a 35-year-old attacking midfielder do in MLS these days? And for a club that simply could not stop shipping goals, would his arrival mean anything at all?

He bagged in a battering of San Jose to open his Orlando City tenure, and it was a steady stream of goals and assists as he found his feet in the league. There was a structure to form around him, too. Justin Ellis, an equally ambiguous yet immensely talented footballer, played up front alongside him. There were all sorts of confusing movements and patterns that hadn't quite been formed. Griezmann was positionless, floating and dictating as he did for France's World Cup runners-up side in 2022. Ellis made the right runs. The connection started to form.

But the first real big game came with a change in position. Ellis started on the bench and Griezmann played as more of a second striker. Counterintuitively, a slightly "deeper" starting position allowed the Frenchman to see the game develop in front of him. Orlando went 1-0 down shortly before half time. In the second half, though, he came alive.

With newly-acquired Daryl Dike acting as a target man, Ellis off to the right, and Griezmann making late runs, Orlando found a winning formula. The Frenchman bagged in the 53rd minute thanks to a smart run and opportunistic tap in. The winner was coming. And in the 81st minute, Griezmann provided it. He found space in the box, drifted away from his man, and reacted first to a loose ball, slotting home when so many more might have panicked. The Lions walked away 2-1 winners.

It was the perfect formula.

"In the final zone, we were a lot more aggressive. We pressed more, were more aggressive with the ball and were quicker. That was the idea and now we continue pushing forward and growing," Griezmann said after full time.

And so it has been since then. Orlando may lose some games. But an immensely attacking system has ensured that they will certainly score some goals doing so. With Dike on the last man, Ellis ghosting in off the right, and Griezmann filling in all the gaps in between, Orlando has found a real fluidity in attack.

A chaotic 3-3 draw with Minnesota United on Aug. 29 perhaps summed it up best. Orlando went 2-0 up - Griezmann bagged the second - and seemed to be in cruise control. Then, they conceded three in five minutes, and needed to be bailed out by a Tyrese Spicer equalizer in stoppage time to snag a point.

Control, absolutely not? But grit, belief? Exactly. Since that game, Griezmann has scored or assisted in seven of Orlando's last eight games. He has gone 90 minutes in all of them. Orlando has found the net 20 times during that span. Griezmann has had a hand in 11 of those goals. Throw in this quite glorious dummy, and it's 12.

The individual numbers, then, look pretty good. Twelve goals and seven assists in 14 games is fairly ridiculous, as these things go. The advanced stuff is even more impressive.

His 2.54 chances created per 90 minutes put him in the 97th percentile among attacking players (Messi is a touch ahead at 2.59). Only Messi and Dallas's Petar Musa are averaging more goals per 90 minutes. His expected goal contribution per 90 minutes is third in the league since his arrival - ahead of Evander, Hany Mukhtar, Son Heung-Min and Luis Suarez.

Defensively, he is sound as ever. Only five other attacking players have won possession in the final third more than Griezmann. The Frenchman ranks in the 98th percentile in ball recoveries per 90 minutes. Griezmann has never relied on athleticism. Much like, say, Thomas Muller, it is intelligence and reading of the game that has carried him this far. Those smarts have more than stuck around - and made him an impact player.

And then there are the intangibles. Griezmann has shown up with bleached, messy hair. Scroll his Instagram, and it's a glut of dorky selfies, baseball games, and an obsession with trading cards. He was pictured hurling passes to Ellis and Dike at the Minnesota Vikings' training facility - before dancing in the endzone when he snagged a pass of his own. He goes to his kids' Little League games.

Griezmann has made no secret of his infatuation with American culture. Those who have been waiting for a glut of content to complement that have certainly not been left disappointed.

And what of Orlando, then? Well, they still can't stop conceding goals. Only Sporting KC have allowed more this season. Yet they have also started scoring a bunch. They are on 41 points, good for seventh in the East. They have better attacking numbers than three of the six teams ahead of them. Home-field advantage in the playoffs is not out of the question. They are sixth in MLS in goals per match and 28th in goals conceded.

Yet where there was once only losing, there is now possibility. Defense wins championships, yes. But so do really good attacking players. And maybe, just maybe, Griezmann will have a chance to chase his dream again. Business remains unfinished.