He is also immensely important for us when defending set pieces.
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Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 46
- Goals
- 28
- Assists
- 9
- Yellow cards
- 8
- Status
He is also immensely important for us when defending set pieces.
I wonder if it is really the case that he is waiting to see if United make the CL next season, but I also wonder where he would go if he left United in the summer to have one last shot at the CL if United don't make it...back to Paris maybe.
He's going to make the end of the year party/awards so much fun to watch. Can't wait for his speeches
Those are league stats only, right?
He is. Although I don't think that's unusual. Strikers usually don't get asked to man-mark, so are free to attack the ball and often make a lot of headed clearances. Drogba was huge for Chelsea in this regard. Van Persie did something similar when he was at United.
I don't give a crap whether strikers have pace or not, as long as they are creative, puts in a shift and scores goals i'm all good. You probably would have said the same had the attack came to nothing.
Ibra is fantastic and is in very good shape. It still seems unrealistic to expect more than 2 seasons out of him at the top level but who knows? I thought we would only get one.
If he would want to I really don't see it as being impossible to continue till he's almost 40. But then he still has to have the right hunger and (I'm no expert) but maybe make some changes to his pre-season training during the summer? Just like he did when he weighed close to 100kg and realised that he wasn't as mobile as he'd needed to be. And he would probably also have to cut down on the number of appearances per season to maybe 40-45?
But the realistic thing is that it could be 1 or at the most 2 more years, or "God forbid" retirement after this season...
Yeah. It takes only a very small drop for a striker to lose that top level edge. Ibra has shown no signs of it at all but it can still happen quickly.
I'm not doubting the influence he has had. I'm replying to the numerous people who say he's carried us, we're a one man team and he'll be irreplaceable when he leaves. The difference is huge from the last 3 seasons to this season. We are attacking through different avenues now (as opposed to the constant crossing football in moyes era and zombie style play during LVGs era), the transition between the opposition team loosing the ball and us taking it forward has quickened up, we're creating many more opportunities on goal, and generally we have been more direct. All this points to the main striker having a productive tally. Zlatan has not carried us. He's just doing what he's supposed to do as a great number 9 playing in a focal point part of the team. Highly influencial. We have given him great service (especially Pogba who's assists should be far greater this season). I think his influence in the dressing room has been far more important than on the team on the pitch. I'm not even going to bother what 'x' team can do without 'y' player. Just don't agree that were too reliant on him.
Disagree, as did both Carragher and Gaz Nev last night. We'll need one hell of a striker to replace him.
I don't think he has carried us. He isn't instrumental to the way we play. You would expect the main striker to score lots. He has been great though.
He has definitely carried us. I had some doubts about him at times and have criticised him (and will probably continue to do so when warranted) but he has been our shining light this season. There aren't many strikers who could fill his boots for us atm.
He absolutely is though. How can you look at this and say anything else?
I just see a player who plays every game and scores a lot. I don't immediately see someone who drives the way we play.
There is no point trying to explain. What Zlatan does is just "standard" to many.He absolutely is though. How can you look at this and say anything else?
The striker is always hugely instrumental in a Mourinho team, and as you see from the stats, he doesn't just score miles more, he creates more than anyone else also. He's used massively in defence for set-pieces and he's our target man that more often that not is able to relieve pressure. Now if that isn't instrumental in how we play, nothing is.
Ok. I think the question is whether he is carrying us or not, that is how would we get on without him. Hard to say but my feeling is that we would still be doing pretty well.
Yep, I'm having trouble finding the overall stats!
These may be wrong, but overall:
Zlatan: 26 goals, 7 assists, 61 chances created.
Alexis: 20 goals, 16 assists, 79 chances created.
The "chances created" stat is only for the PL and Europe so Zlatan's is lower here than in the tweet above because I couldn't find the overall including the FA Cup & League Cup.
Zlatan has scored 17 more than the nearest Man Utd player with Mata 2nd scoring 9, is 3rd in assists behind Herrera & Rooney, and is joint top with Pogba in chances created.
Alexis has scored 5 more goals than the nearest Arsenal player with Walcott scoring 15, is 1st in assists with Mesut Ozil 2nd assisting 8, and is 1st in chances created with Mesut Ozil 2nd creating 73.
Mata coring 9 is good for a player that is in and out and often deployed wide. Walcott on 15 are you sure???
That's just bonkers.
Yeah, Mata's stats are always good. It's just crazy how far ahead Zlatan is compared to everyone else! If you combine Mata's goals with our joint 3rd and 4th top goalscorers, Zlatan would still be ahead by 3 goals!Mata coring 9 is good for a player that is in and out and often deployed wide. Walcott on 15 are you sure???
I was a bit surprised about Walcott, too. 8 in the league, 3 in the CL, and 4 in the FA Cup. Though, I do think, at the beginning of the season anyway, Walcott was playing really well.
I agree. This isn't a criticism of Ibra at all but this thread has again gone into hyperbole mode.
Other strikers could and will score plenty of goals in this United team. All talk of how will we cope if he leaves is getting silly.
If he got injured right now I think there'd be a problem. Could Rashford slot in having had little game time up front and being short on goals. It's very doubtful.
Long term though we'll be fine.
I don't think we would tbh.
We tried earlier in the season to play without him in the Europa League and it didn't work.
Also our next top scorer is Mata with something like 9?
We would have lost that final if he wasn't there. I don't think he is carrying the team, but we wouldn't be doing well without him IMO.
Martial and Rashford can't be relied upon to lead the line for an entire season and remain consistent.
Well, easy to say that, but Martial and Rashford both played much better and scored more often last season when they were in the team more regularly and with more responsibility. You can't tell much from the 3 games Ibra hasn't started this season.
I can tell from the games Martial has played this season (in the same position his played last season)
Also how many games did Rashford play last season? Hardly contributed consistently for the entire season.
Neither of them scored 26 goals in all competitions by this stage either.
Had those 2 been our main goalscorers for this season we would be in trouble.
Maybe, maybe not. Or we might have bought a different striker and been 'carried' by him.
The bottom line is we have only improved a bit on last season overall.
I'm very pleased with his contribution so far but however you lot try to spin it, he should have another at least 5 or 6 goals to his name to add his current tally. He was missing some real chances earlier on the season for a player of his calibre
Literally every single striker in the world you can go through their season and find chances they should have scored. It's a completely pointless thing to go on about.
He should, together with Pogba. I'd prefer Pogba though...
Nah he really shouldn't, i've seen him score a lot of good free kicks over the years especially in Italy but this year his free kicks bar sunday have been awful.
Mata and Pogba should be taking them.
How many FK goals have Mata and Pogba scored this year ?
How many have they had the chance to take?
If they haven't had many chances then what makes you think they should replace Ibra ?
The fact that Ibra has had many chances and scored one.
I'm with stevoc on this. I think Pogba needs to start taking some more free kicks for sure, if not all of them.
How many would you expect him to score ?
I'm curious what this is based on ? Is he considered some sort of free kick specialist ?
I'm obviously speaking of the current squad without him.
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