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Zlatan Ibrahimovic Sweden flag

2016-17 Performances

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6.2 Season Average Rating
Appearances
46
Goals
28
Assists
9
Yellow cards
8
Status
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I was skeptical from the get go, and when he was missing chances and we were dropping points I was certain that it would pan out exactly as I feared and thought it would.

Delighted to see that he has managed to hit form, and is contributing at the highest level. If he manages to keep this kind of form up in the coming months, it will go down as a master stroke signing from Jose.

Long may it continue!
 
Rossa said:
Or if others bothered to at least try and score a goal. He still has 16 goals. Rooney hasn't scored since the Bournemouth match in the league,Martial has been poor and Mata hasn't been banging them in either, but yeah, blame it on the guy who is currently winning us matches.
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There's no "blame". But its true that the chances he missed were sitters and someone of his calibre should be scoring them. He's been great this past month but if he'd shown a bit more composure this season could have been very different.
 
wr8_utd said:
There's no "blame". But its true that the chances he missed were sitters and someone of his calibre should be scoring them. He's been great this past month but if he'd shown a bit more composure this season could have been very different.
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And why didn't his teammates step up when he went through a dry patch just like any striker inevitably would? The Caf to this day still wank itself silly over RvP's 12-13 season but he went something like 11 games without scoring from Dec-Jan. Why the double standard?
 
Kyonn said:
I'm here to publicly admit I was wrong about Zlatan. Thought he would be lucky to get 15 goals this year. Can you imagine if Rooney had his commitment to fitness?
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Rooney never had Zlataan's technique. Even if he had taken better care of himself, the physical decline would still take a lot out of his game. Even now he can still run but his agility and reflexes have declined to the point he can't shake free of his marker to fashion a yard or two for passing/shooting under pressure.
 
Kyonn said:
I'm here to publicly admit I was wrong about Zlatan. Thought he would be lucky to get 15 goals this year. Can you imagine if Rooney had his commitment to fitness?
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Rooney as a number 9 would have never been able to come even close to Zlatan as a striker. Rooney is a very good player but Zlatan is of a different level.
 
Incredible how he's doing this at 35. He's performing at an incredible physical level, defenders are literally bouncing off him.
 
Playing a lot better. Wish he'd done this for that spell of games earlier in the season but if he can maintain his current form for the remainder we'd be looking pretty strong...
 
LawCharltonBest said:
That surprises me. I thought for sure that Cristiano Ronaldo would've had at least had 12 goals at this point in the season he scored something stupid like 42 goals for us
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Regulus Arcturus Black said:
Think you've misunderstood it buddy.
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Unlikely lad said:
First 16 PL appearances for United
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Ronaldo had 9 Goals in the league and 4 in the CL at this point in 07/08. From around Xmas time on wards, Ronaldo really kicked on and never looked back. Scored 12 goals in the first 19 games of the league and 19 goals in the last 19 games.
 
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Football365’s early winner: Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Among the reasons Zlatan Ibrahimovic listed for idolising Muhammad Ali, one in particular stood out. “The way he was, the way he performed, the way he was talking, the way he was moving,” the Swedish striker began, speaking with an infatuation generally reserved for him, not by him.

It was his final point that was most pertinent. “The way he responded to the critics, to whoever talked,” he added. The 35-year-old was speaking on Thursday; by Saturday, the numbers doubting whether he could make an impact in the Premier League reached single digits as he ensured that this would be his 11th successive season with at least ten league goals.

Against West Brom, Ibrahimovic was at his very best. He scored twice, linked the play wonderfully, led the line as only he can, and even provided an element of sh*thousery. The week began with him scoring the winner against Crystal Palace after allegedly elbowing Yohan Cabaye. It ends with his decisive double at The Hawthorns being forgotten (by some) as a questionable challenge on Craig Dawson receives the back-page headlines.

Manchester United fans will care not. Ibrahimovic brings a necessary edge to this United side, who were bullied all too often by more physically imposing sides in recent seasons. The Swede has committed more fouls than any other player in the Premier League this season (38). Paul Pogba, rather wonderfully, is only one foul behind in second.

But strikers must score goals, and the 35-year-old has provided the perfect response to a run of just one strike in 11 games from September to November. He has now scored 16 goals in all competitions for United before Christmas. Last season’s top scorer was Anthony Martial, with 17 goals. The season before that it was Wayne Rooney, who scored 14 times in the 2014/15 campaign. The Englishman’s haul of 19 goals in 2013/14 is already under serious threat.

It is no wonder Jose Mourinho is considering resting his on-pitch leader. Ibrahimovic has played more minutes in all competitions than any other United player (2,102). He has missed just two of the club’s 27 games. The West Brom win saw him play his third game in the space of six days, and his eighth game in 24 days. He has completed the full 90 minutes in each.

And yet it is no wonder Mourinho regards the forward as “almost impossible” to rest. He has scored ten goals in his last nine games, no other United player has scored more than five goals, and the example he sets to his teammates is clear. Few others are capable of making Phil Jones giggle like a child.

Just as Ali did all those years ago, Ibrahimovic commands respect from those he works with and derives fear from his opponents. Gareth McAuley and Jonas Olsson were made to look their 37 and 33 years of age respectively on Saturday; the Swede, at 35, looks like a striker in his prime. And those critics have been silenced.
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The highest praise I can give him is he lives up the praise, he really does.

Anyone worrying about resting him needs to relax, its Zlatan, he plays when he wants.

Its astounding we have players of his and pogbas quality. Three world class players in our starting 11 for the first time in about 6 years.
 
Took him a while to get going after that initial burst, but he's really coming into his stride now. He's actually getting better with every game IMO. Imagine if he'd scored in those games where he missed, we could've been well in the title race. I won't hold it against him though because he's more than made for it. Martial needs to step up, and hopefully we can get Mhki back soon to add to the goal tally.
 
Feels like he started well due to I dunno, adrenaline or something and then there was an inevitable period where he struggled as he got used to the league. He's absolutely flying now though and we're starting to see his old arrogance come through.

And I mean arrogance in a good way, he's starting to bully defenders and he knows now he's still got it and can still dominate. I think he'll have 30 goals or more by the end of the season..
 
sunama said:
Mate, this is Zlatan. This is not some run of the mill footballer we are talking about.
After seeing him play for us so many times, you still have not understood this? :confused:

At 35, Zlatan is fitter than many who are far younger than him. And if he needs a rest, he'll tell Jose this and Jose will listen.
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No he is not.
 
I've just read that Zlatan is top of the fouls committed in the entire league. Pogba is one behind him in second.

It might sound silly but for me, that edge has been almost as important as the goals, assists and attacking play.

This is a side who was bullied at West Ham, at Stoke and even at home a few times last year. This season, with Valencia, Bailly, Rojo and Jones featuring heavily at the back, plus Pogba, Herrera and Zlatan seeing loads of gametime further up the field, it's us doing the bullying and it feels a lot better.
 
Cheesy said:
To be fair I think a fair bit of the frustration was warranted when he was both on a barren streak where he was missing plenty of chances, and the team as a whole were struggling to score goals. Still, he's come through that superbly and his return can't be argued with thus far. Considering our lack of goals last season he's exactly what we've needed...he's already equaled last seasons top scorer in the league (Martial) before reaching the halfway point, and he'll almost certainly overtake him in all competitions within the next couple of weeks. It's the first time since RVP/Rooney a few years back when we've had a player you can reliably expect to get himself on the scoresheet regularly.
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That frustration is generally misguided though. It's when forwards are not getting chances that you need to worry. If they're getting plenty but the ball is going in the net, then patience is key. Football is a game of high variance, it's difficult to score, but you can also get real lucky. Zlatan was doing everything right and his underlying statistics were suggesting he'd be one of the top scorers in the league... and a few weeks later he has the goals to be exactly that.

The irony is that his underlying performance were probably better on his barren streak then they have been recently when scoring. United'd expected goals - and Zlatan's - have both been lower in recent matches, but then again we've spent much of recent matches leading and in relative control, so haven't been chasing further goals.
 
Thing with Zlatan's dry patch, our team is almost geared towards relying solely on him to be our goal threat. now you can argue, well he has no excuses but to score.. well yes, but he is human and any striker even in peak form can have off days.

Bottom line is that when he had off days, the other players in the squad needed to chip in with goals and they didn't. So I think people blaming him for those dropped points are harsh.. yes he was off the boil, but he needed his team mates to support him during that phase and they didn't.

It is an issue we need to rectify in the second half of the season and Jose has said on a few occasions, he's disappointed with certain player's goal outputs (Rooney, Martial, Rashford).

If Pogba can start banging in a few, and Mkhi builds on his goal v Spurs, we can start spreading the goals around more which is a much healthier situation and fairer on Zlatan.
 
Raees said:
Jose has said on a few occasions, he's disappointed with certain player's goal outputs (Rooney, Martial, Rashford).
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I agree with your post but has he said that? He got asked after the last game; "in an ideal world, you'd want to see that goalscoring burden spread throughout the rest of the team, not just on Ibrahimovic's shoulders?" and he seemed relaxed about it. At 1.15:


Edit: That's of course something he'd tell the media but i'm sure privately he expected the others to chip in more than they have.
 
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He's got more energy than Rooney does, his pressing is still good even at 90 minutes.

He doesn't play like a 35 year old, more like 30/31 IMO.
 
Loved his celebration for the second goal vs West Brom, where he put his arms out and everyone just flocked to him literally like birds under the wing.

What was Jones doing during the celebration :lol::lol:
 
Raees said:
Thing with Zlatan's dry patch, our team is almost geared towards relying solely on him to be our goal threat. now you can argue, well he has no excuses but to score.. well yes, but he is human and any striker even in peak form can have off days.

Bottom line is that when he had off days, the other players in the squad needed to chip in with goals and they didn't. So I think people blaming him for those dropped points are harsh.. yes he was off the boil, but he needed his team mates to support him during that phase and they didn't.

It is an issue we need to rectify in the second half of the season and Jose has said on a few occasions, he's disappointed with certain player's goal outputs (Rooney, Martial, Rashford).

If Pogba can start banging in a few, and Mkhi builds on his goal v Spurs, we can start spreading the goals around more which is a much healthier situation and fairer on Zlatan.
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The other players were to some degree doing their job as they were regularly putting the ball on a plate for him in front of goal. During the games in question (Stoke, Liverpool, Burnley, Arsenal, West Ham & Everton) he had maybe 8 clear chances which should have been converted conservatively into around 4 goals. I agree that Pogba maybe had 2-3 clear chances during that time that he missed, Rashford likewise and Martial/Mata possibly 1-2, so they aren't without fault. However if you have a system set up so that you want the bulk of your chances to fall to your main striker, when he misses chances he has to take responsibility. No-one is criticising Chelsea for the bulk of their chances falling to Costa, and rightly so.

We have to accept that if he was finishing ala Costa we'd be around 6-8 points better off. However I think these last few weeks he's proving that it was a temporary problem, rather than what I assumed was a problem with the player. The finish against Crystal Palace was fantastic and exactly the kind of situation and chance he was missing earlier in the season and if that continues along with his ability to hold the ball up and create then he will have blown my expectations massively out of the water.

I suppose the question is if we could choose either 80% of our chances going to Zlatan (as current) or them being split say 25/25/25/25% between our 4 most attacking players, which would you choose? I'd say most would choose the 80% as we should be more comfortable with Zlatan in front of goal vs our other attackers.

On another note I think he's been quite unlucky with the selection of chances he's missed. If he missed one of his goals vs So'ton, Bournemouth, City, Swansea, Zorya or West Brom it would have made no difference to the result. However in these games he was pretty clinical. Sod's Law it's only been the selection of games we've drawn that he hasn't been as clinical.
 
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Robertd0803 said:
Loved his celebration for the second goal vs West Brom, where he put his arms out and everyone just flocked to him literally like birds under the wing.

What was Jones doing during the celebration :lol::lol:
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I think he wanted to be judo - kicked (shown below) as they did in a previous celebration. Its funny how they chose Jones, a crock, to be the victim in the celebration.

Jones just got ignored this time though :lol:

search


If it didn't load because of my work computer/poor internet skills here's the link:
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=J...=Vd5XWKirF8mKjwTFlqmwDA#imgrc=0iDqYbxdklYXSM:
 
LouisDanGaal said:
The highest praise I can give him is he lives up the praise, he really does.

Anyone worrying about resting him needs to relax, its Zlatan, he plays when he wants.

Its astounding we have players of his and pogbas quality. Three world class players in our starting 11 for the first time in about 6 years.
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I would go as far as saying we have 4 world class players in the starting 11 when all fit (DDG, Pogba, Mkhitaryan and Zlatan).

I can't believe he's got a 6.1 rating here :lol:
 
The media reaction has very quickly gone from "Zlatan is past it, he's holding United back" to "Zlatan is amazing, this United team would be nowhere without him"
 
sunama said:
Mate, this is Zlatan. This is not some run of the mill footballer we are talking about.
After seeing him play for us so many times, you still have not understood this? :confused:

At 35, Zlatan is fitter than many who are far younger than him. And if he needs a rest, he'll tell Jose this and Jose will listen.
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RVP, RVN, Rooney, Henry, Cole, Aguero, Drogba. Run of the mill footballers??????
I just think it is better to be safe than sorry. I went from having reservations over to whether he will have a lasting impact to believing that we need to wrap him in cotton wool so that he can stay at peak levels
 
So glad I bought his jersey when the season started.

Where are all the haters now? I loved it when we signed him. Long may his time with us continue.
 
JJ12 said:
I would go as far as saying we have 4 world class players in the starting 11 when all fit (DDG, Pogba, Mkhitaryan and Zlatan).

I can't believe he's got a 6.1 rating here :lol:
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I wouldn't disagree with mkhi but its more like wait and see for me. My average rating for Ibra is exactly the same as the average, 6.1. but to be fair I very rarely bother to do the player ratings, if I had been doing it over the last ten games he would be significantly higher.
 
LouisDanGaal said:
I wouldn't disagree with mkhi but its more like wait and see for me. My average rating for Ibra is exactly the same as the average, 6.1. but to be fair I very rarely bother to do the player ratings, if I had been doing it over the last ten games he would be significantly higher.
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If we go off just his performances with us then yeah the jury is still out. If we go off what we know from his Dortmund performances too I'd class him as world class.
 
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