[Zlaatan]

But you know what happens if he doesnt score! dropped points!
going round the houses here, as a team we have a better chance of success if our striker is not missing easy chances. You do not get many in a game so you have to take the ones you get otherwise bye bye top 4 we cant rely on mata or pogba to score wordlies we need our number 9 to do his job and score the easy chances.

I haven't seen the ferynord game but I hear he was good

Going round the houses is indeed correct because you just circled back to your first argument which completely ignores every single point I've made so far.
I don't know that we drop points if he doesn't score unless we put him out on the pitch by himself, and AFAIK we have yet to do that.
He didn't score against Feyenoord yet we won 4-0. (he was quite poor that game btw, despite being involved in 3 of the goals)

We had 3 points in the bag against Stoke without him scoring but DDG fumbled and they could equalize. Lingard, Pogba etc missed extremely good chances to score (some of which Zlatan set up), but somehow it's only because of Zlatan's misses that we didn't win? We create one chance against Liverpool all game and because he misses that he's the reason we "dropped" 2 points? How exactly does that logic work?
Just because he's the striker doesn't mean his mistakes costs us more points than any other players mistakes that leads to goals conceded or missed chances.

I have no problem with people saying he's been poor, because overall he can do a lot better. But blaming one player for our position in the table is absurd, and I would say that even if Smalling was the one being blamed..

 

[SirScholes]

Going round the houses is indeed correct because you just circled back to your first argument which completely ignores every single point I've made so far.
I don't know that we drop points if he doesn't score unless we put him out on the pitch by himself, and AFAIK we have yet to do that.
He didn't score against Feyenoord yet we won 4-0. (he was quite poor that game btw, despite being involved in 3 of the goals)

We had 3 points in the bag against Stoke without him scoring but DDG fumbled and they could equalize. Lingard, Pogba etc missed extremely good chances to score (some of which Zlatan set up), but somehow it's only because of Zlatan's misses that we didn't win? We create one chance against Liverpool all game and because he misses that he's the reason we "dropped" 2 points? How exactly does that logic work?
Just because he's the striker doesn't mean his mistakes costs us more points than any other players mistakes that leads to goals conceded or missed chances.

I have no problem with people saying he's been poor, because overall he can do a lot better. But blaming one player for our position in the table is absurd, and I would say that even if Smalling was the one being blamed..

Simple opportunities missed that's what is what is responsible

 

[M Bison]

He's really starting to get on my nerves. We need so much more from him, 2 minutes in to the WHU game and he's been bullied from a free kick and we concede.

 

[OB]

Just wondering if he puts his leg that high in the box and he caught someone, couldn't it have been a pen?

 

[Adisa]

When his team doesn't have the ball, he's the worst player I ever seen. A complete nonentity defensively.

 

[Adisa]

ZLAATAAN!!!

 

[Amar__]

Well done! Playing really well too, great half so far.

 

[ivaldo]

Playing really well so far.

 

[AXVnee7]

He loses so many aerial duels or flicks the ball wayward. He was otherwise pretty good today.

 

[the hea]

Pathetic defending for the West Ham goal and another handful of missed chances, just the typical performance we have come to expect from our main striker.

 

[VorZakone]

I actually think his overall gameplay is not compensating enough for his lack of agility and pace. Throw a guy like Aubameyang up front and I bet United's attack gets a new dimension. He'll be outpacing oppo defenders and is more likely to be at the end of a final pass.

 

[Devil may care]

Good goal but overall nothing great, his lack of dynamism is very evident in the PL.

 

[Henrik Larsson]

First he was our biggest problem because he missed those chances, now the last games he's turned into our biggest goal threat, which on its turn is probably an even bigger problem. We're proper fecked.

 

[JeffBoomTetris]

Good goal. But he is a striker. And a striker makes runs behind and occupies the defenders. His constant dropping of into midfield is irritating. And for a big fellow, he is average in the air.

 

[Rhyme Animal]

4th August, in this thread...

I actually think he lacks that burst of pace to really excel as a PL striker in this day and age.

He was coming deep because he couldn't get behind Everton's CBs - and although his touch and intelligence are obviously world class, in the PL, a striker who needs to come deep rarely excels as a number 9.

Hope he does well, but I get the feeling that his impact might be more comparable to Berbatov than Cantona...

I stand by it. He's just too cumbersome and lacks any burst of pace. Constantly coming deep.

Shouldn't be kept here for another year on elite striker wages. Absolutely not.

 

[Fahad Jawaid]

I think he is huge problem for us, he gets goals but he misses extremely easy chances, the first half block was down to him taking ages to get his shot away, similarly the second half back header chances was a poor miss and then the crucial miss late when Rooney crossed him and he tried to pass it to Mkhitaryan rather than smashing it from that tight angle.

I thought he would be subdued against big sides but against small teams, he is going to steamroll them and actually be our flat track bully, because honestly you win league titles against smaller teams, and he has lost my confidence. He is just not a lethal striker, and we a team in transition we need that at the moment to turn defeats in to draws and draws into wins.

 

[Van Piorsing]

I love you Zlat and all that but it's simply not enough for the 300k level.

 

[Man-United]

4th August, in this thread...



I stand by it. He's just too cumbersome and lacks any burst of pace. Constantly coming deep.

Shouldn't be kept here for another year on elite striker wages. Absolutely not.

You talk about his wage all the fecking time. Would it feel better to have signed him for £5M and he got £100.000/week even if it would have cost us more?

And weird time to quote yourself as he was very good today.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Drop him to the bench for the next few games.Not mobile enough and fecking lazy

 

[bosnian_red]

Thought he was really sharp today actually. Created plenty, scored the goal, should have had another though. We play so much better going forward whenever he is on the pitch, pretty funny how some can't see it and want a kid start ahead of him just because he has pace.

 

[Man-United]

Thought he was really sharp today actually. Created plenty, scored the goal, should have had another though. We play so much better going forward whenever he is on the pitch, pretty funny how some can't see it and want a kid start ahead of him just because he has pace.

Agreed. He was one of the best players, just Pogba and Mata did as good as him. Great to have him back in the PL. We looked so poor upfront against Arsenal without him. Now we create great chances again.

 

[Kag]

Yeah, today isn't really the day to be criticising him. He was good, plus his header was genuinely outstanding.

 

[flappyjay]

If he was a good finisher he would be on his way to scoring 30 + league goals for us this season

 

[Fracture90]

We got him for free...and he's still not worth the money spent.

 

[TheSweeper]

Good goal but overall nothing great, his lack of dynamism is very evident in the PL.

That's the exact word - it's not pace - it's dynamism. He can do all this acrobatic sh*t all over the box but the pressure it outs on the defense is minimal.

 

[Loublaze]

but somehow it's only because of Zlatan's misses that we didn't win?

He missed the final chance of the game in literally the last minute of injury time. A chance laid on a plate for him by Pogba. If he can't be blamed for that then IDK what to say. He's paid millions to put away chances like that

 

[Jed I. Knight]

I think he is huge problem for us, he gets goals but he misses extremely easy chances, the first half block was down to him taking ages to get his shot away, similarly the second half back header chances was a poor miss and then the crucial miss late when Rooney crossed him and he tried to pass it to Mkhitaryan rather than smashing it from that tight angle.

I thought he would be subdued against big sides but against small teams, he is going to steamroll them and actually be our flat track bully, because honestly you win league titles against smaller teams, and he has lost my confidence. He is just not a lethal striker, and we a team in transition we need that at the moment to turn defeats in to draws and draws into wins.

Not to mention the terrible touch when Collins gifted him a great chance.

He's far from our biggest problem, and he's quite obviously our best option up front right now. But the reality of it is that if you put Aguero in our team, we'd probably have a realistic chance of competing for the league at this point. That's the difference between having a good striker compared to an absolutely top quality striker.

 

[RedDevilCanuck]

Should have buried that cross from Rooney or sent it across the box.

He needs to be better

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Finishing still hit and miss(good goal though), and putting Rashford in place of Ibra makes the team worse.

We need to get better wingers.

 

[Janson]

People criticising him after a game like this either have an agenda or vision problems. The third category are the ones who after a loss or draw believe the answer is always more pace upfront.

 

[wr8_utd]

Giving him that new contract will be a disaster of a decision.

 

[Fracture90]

People criticising him after a game like this either have an agenda or vision problems. The third category are the ones who after a loss or draw believe the answer is always more pace upfront.

Failed to mark his man when we conceded, scored, ruined another sitter when Ogbona blocked him because he was powdering his nose and needed 20 minutes to shot. Ruined another sitter with his appoling when Collins messed up. Lost most of his aerial duels, again was dropping deep.

Good thing you're not from Sweden mate, or someone might accuse you of being biased.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

Giving him that new contract will be a disaster of a decision.

9 goals and 3 assists in his first 4 months for feck sakes...

 

[Henrik Larsson]

He's clearly not our saviour or anything, but hasn't he scored/assisted 5 goals in our last 3 matches?

People criticising him after a game like this either have an agenda or vision problems. The third category are the ones who after a loss or draw believe the answer is always more pace upfront.

So true

 

[wr8_utd]

9 goals and 3 assists in his first 4 months for feck sakes...

You want him, Rooney, Rashford as our striking choices for one more year?

 

[Witchking]

9 goals and 3 assists in his first 4 months for feck sakes...

Yet he hardly helps in winning the game, hardly wins any headers, is slow, misses sitters. Martial could do all that if that's the quality you want at United.

Martial will hands down beat Zlatan in every stat if he got to start the amount of game that Zlatan has started. Does not deserve anything from United, especially a second season. He is slowing down Martial and Rashford's progress.

 

[Man-United]

Yet he hardly helps in winning the game, hardly wins any headers, is slow, misses sitters. Martial could do all that if that's the quality you want at United.

Martial will hands down beat Zlatan in every stat if he got to start the amount of game that Zlatan has started. Does not deserve anything from United, especially a second season. He is slowing down Martial and Rashford's progress.

Could Martial create as much chances as Zlatan? Can he feck. We will be much worse if we had Martial or Rashford upfront. Rashford has been awful this season and missed a great chance today. If it was Zlatan who missed it if we would have had 10 posts in this thread within a minute.

 

[Witchking]

Could Martial create as much chances as Zlatan? Can he feck. We will be much worse if we had Martial or Rashford upfront. Rashford has been awful this season and missed a great chance today. If it was Zlatan who missed it if we would have had 10 posts in this thread within a minute.

So you want a 35 year old striker above a 20 year old who has shown what he can do when he lead the team last season? Can you blame Rashford when he gets benched every other game while Zlatan plays even if he was bad the last game? Where's the fairness in that?

 

[Janson]

Failed to mark his man when we conceded, scored, ruined another sitter when Ogbona blocked him because he was powdering his nose and needed 20 minutes to shot. Ruined another sitter with his appoling when Collins messed up. Lost most of his aerial duels, again was dropping deep.

Good thing you're not from Sweden mate, or someone might accuse you of being biased.

He was at fault for the their goal yes but he more then made up for it by scoring and creating chances for others, he could have had 2-3 assists easily. But the other things you've mentioned are to ridiculous to even answer.

If you want to go there then I could also mention you beeing from Serbia. Serbs don't really like Bosnians nor Croats do they? Frankly, I don't care where he is from, I am just stating my objective views.

 

[Fracture90]

Or maybe he watched the game unlike you? Because you must have been watching another game. Zlatan was one of our best players today.

And just maybe your understanding of football is so shallow that you consider his performance today as one of the best ones.