Very true and another big problem is that players are judged on the fees clubs paid for them.It's fundamentally wrong for me.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
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Very true and another big problem is that players are judged on the fees clubs paid for them.It's fundamentally wrong for me.
Couldn't agree more. Transfer fees for footballers are silly no matter what. Plus in Barcas case they had a near perfect squad. If Pep felt that all he needed to make it perfect was a player like Zlatan, then you can imagine that he won't care what it takes to bring him there. Barca have the money.
Anyway, only way of judging a players pricetag vs his ability is if you have a viable option costing the same or less, willing to come to the club at the same time from a club willing to sell. Otherwise it is just a totally relative sum.
Bojan is a great player. There is no shame in starting a few games on the bench for Barcelona while Bojan plays.
FOotball is a squad game. Zlatan made a good contribution to the season they had.
Yes. He was dropped for Bojan.
Not yet he isnt. He's a very exciting prospect but he needs first team football to develop properly and Barcelona have opted against giving him it for most of the season.
That said, with Ibrahimovic's iffy form and given the chance to start some matches in the cup, he took his chance to stake a real claim for a first team place.
Just saying, he is no Welbeck. He is a great talent obviously, but when you play him you still get a good footballer on.
Bojan has scored goals in the Primera before. Two seasons ago he got double digits I think.
Bojan has scored goals in the Primera before. Two seasons ago he got double digits I think.
Your point is...?
It was the right decision in the end and maybe Guardiola should have thought about doing that against Inter.
Much of the time Ibrahimovic was occupying the space that Messi likes to drift into, which meant Inter didn't need to worry about man-marking Messi, he was effectively being nullified by his own teammate.
Pedro-Bojan-Messi was fantastic, which could be a key to the future... May I also add that all three were products of their youth program?
Barca never cease to amaze and define football as much as I dispise them
Barca never cease to amaze and define football as much as I dispise them
I dont think so.
I dont think he and Messi play in the same spaces, I think Bojan (like Eto'o) is a more direct player who just wants to drive at goal and put the ball in the back of the net.
To that aim, he'll constantly be looking to get in behind the defence and into the best goalscoring positions and will never shy away from having efforts at goal even if it takes 3 or 4 before he hits the back of the net.
On the other hand Ibrahimovic wants to play his own game which is a lot less direct and a lot more extravagant. Take for example the chance he had right after he came on where he tried to flick it in instead of just placing the ball in the back of the net. In the end it was a chance missed that he should have done better with and maybe Bojan would have done better with it. But thats just Ibrahimovic, sometimes it goes in and it looks brilliant.
I guess its hard to look brilliant with those kinds of things when it takes seveal tries to get it right. And you're playing in the same team as Leo Messi who's scoring and creating goals every week.
Exactly
If you have a huge price tag and if you are hailed as one of the best players in the world, people expect you to perform, it's as simple as that. Have you ever heard Messi, Kaka or Ronaldo complaining about the expectations they have to meet.
Ibrahimovic is a good player, but he disapperas in many big games when his team needs him to step up his game. Nobody denies he's quality, but he's just not as good as some people make him out to be. And whilst I have patience with young players like Benzema, I'm losing my patience with Zlatan. He's almost 29 years old, how long are we supposed to wait until he reaches his peak? Take a note, players usually don't get better after hitting the end of their twenties. Ibrahimovic is the huge promise, that is never gonna be fulfilled.
Eto'o on the other hand is not only a promise, he's a living success, having performed on the small occasions AND the big occasions.
Nick Webster on Fox Football Fone-In keeps talking about how he has this feeling that Berba and Zlatan will swap locations in the summer.
That's the most retarded thing I've ever heard.
Not even close! Apparently you haven't watched Fox Football Fone-In then
with no cash transferring? feck yes i would take it.
A contribution that could have been missed, more then likely given the end of season that Bojan had, he could have done alot more then Zlatan.
Eto'o 's contribution would have been missed a whole lot more.
Those guys are so fecking retarded havent watched that show in ages, since the Chelsea fan got the boot
this
What are you talking about? Who cares if you lose your patience with Zlatan, who cares if you feel that he will never fulfil his potential.
He is a class player and he had a good season. He scored a lot of goals, he played well in most games, and he was shit in some of them. That's football for you.
He had a good season, not a brilliant one, but a good one, in a new team in a new country. Why can't it just be that simple? Because people live in a world of black and white, a world of kneejerks and tabloid reactions.
Seriously though. He has won so much over the last few years and is now in a near perfect Barca squad where he won the league again.
He is playing fairly well, scoring goals etc. He is obviously going to have bad games too, and in the CL this year he was a few poor games when he was needed. Everyone does, bar maybe Ronaldo/Messi.
Still people say: "He lets me down, ne never fulfils his potential etc". Who cares?
He is playing fairly well, scoring goals etc. He is obviously going to have bad games too, and in the CL this year he was a few poor games when he was needed. Everyone does, bar maybe Ronaldo/Messi.
Still people say: "He lets me down, ne never fulfils his potential etc". Who cares?
Can't remember the last time Zlatan didn't win the league
They are obviously retarded.
SSN: Ibrahimovic to be offered to City and Chelsea
Apparently Barca have plans already laid out to offload him to a premier league club with City and Chelsea as front runners but it'd be Guardiola's decision about if he's offloaded this summer. City's interest might just save Barca from making a loss on Ibrahimovic. Sell Zlatan and replace him with Villa, not bad. The only worry I'd have is that if Zlatan's sold, their back up striker is Bojan and if Villa get's a long term injury, I'd be worried if Bojan can really fill in for him properly.
Apparently Barca have plans already laid out to offload him to a premier league club with City and Chelsea as front runners but it'd be Guardiola's decision about if he's offloaded this summer. City's interest might just save Barca from making a loss on Ibrahimovic. Sell Zlatan and replace him with Villa, not bad. The only worry I'd have is that if Zlatan's sold, their back up striker is Bojan and if Villa get's a long term injury, I'd be worried if Bojan can really fill in for him properly.
You guys are just hating cuz he's gay
Bojan is fine, he just needs games and experience and he'll come good. However a lot of the rumours of Villa to Barcelona over the past few seasons have had Bojan involved in the deal, either on loan or more recently buying him outright. So that could still happen. He'd be a very good replacement for Villa longterm, however Valencia probably need every last penny from selling David Villa.
They're not as broke as they were, qualifying for the CL has helped them a lot, and they were making noises a week or two ago about "not having to sell Villa or Silva" - i.e. they'd still sell, but on their terms.
No different from their situation today though? Today they have Zlatan and Bojan, and if this goes through they will have Villa and Bojan.
Yes they are, after qualifying for the champions league they were billed around 18 million euros for not building a hotel at the mestalla as they were contracted to do.
From May 6th I believe :
If you take into account Eto being generally not quite the player he was at his peak and the fact Zlatan is in his pomp and also the value of the transfer of each player... one team has progressed further than they've been for 50 odd years and the other team has in the space of a year gone backwards (only slightly though).
Take these factors into account and the quality of performances in the CL.. Eto'o has proved to be the better signing even if on stats he obviously cannot compare to the younger peak Zlatan.
It's so much more than that....
It's Mourinhos inter now, he essentially had Mancinis inter and brought in a few players who all flopped. Quaresma, Mancini etc yet this season his signings have been excellent and the team as a whole has been a lot better.
It is not simply Eto'o making it so or Zlatan making it so. They have both contributed but the improvements inter made are drastic. In europe especially.
Barcelona.... anyone expecting them to have the same year as the pervious one hasn't been a fan of football for long enough. You win every competition you are in in a remarkable season. The next one you have virtually no chance of doing it again because this is football.
Ibrahimovic fanbois and Northern Europeans finding reasons for Ibra's failure to meet expecations - how original.
Even though luck is part of it, it is not like that exactly.
We could not win back to back CLs because of a Barcelona team better than us. Similarly Barca faced an Inter side set up along the same lines as Chelsea last season but this time, could not get lucky with a last minute wonder goal.
IMO one reason why the replaced Etoo with Zlatan was that they did not want another Chelsea like situation. Zlatan failed to add that another dimension to their game and infact they have now become too dependent on Messi.
IMO the most telling comment on Zlatan's stint this season at Barca was the fact he was subbed off against Inter when they needed two goals. Especially since it was not done for a change in formation but Bojan simply taking up his position.
I personally think it would Madridsique idiotic move by Barca to get rid of him after one season but it could happen especially given how bitter they were over their CL exit. There is no question Zlatan would be gone in a season if they buy Villa. Can not see him playing second fiddle.
We just don't consider the same factors when comparing the 2 players I'm afraid.Like I said, I don't take into account the money spent on the players nor their respective clubs achievements in the season.
That's why I precised in the original post and if only stats were to be taken into consideration that Zlatan has done better Eto'o.Obviously it's not the real conclusion cause at the end trophies are what matter
Agree that Eto'o is obviously not single-handedly responsible for Inter's improvement.. Milito, Sneijder and Lucio have arguably been more influential.
However the fact remains that he has been an integral part of this unit not just a mere component and he has helped this team go beyond a level it would've been able to achieve had Zlatan been in the team even with the other new signings.
Eto'o is a big match player and he proved his mettle against both Chelsea and with his overall performance v Barcelona. History and our own judgement tells us that with Zlatan in the team it'd been unlikely he'd produce the same calibre of performance even in this new and improved overall inter... ffs he was playing for Barcelona and still done feckall.
I admire your pure method of rating signings, but I think its flawed... its fantasy to just rate players without other factors being taken into account i.e. has the signing had a positive effect on the team.. has the team improved with that signing, has he performed to the expectations placed upon him... doesn't necessarily have to include price.
Eto'o came very cheap for Inter, he was expected to provide a world class presence up front (score in big matches) and aid the overall mentality of the team.. he's done all thats expected of him and some. It would've been unrealistic to expect him to be extremely prolific week in week out as he isn't the player he was at his peak.
Zlatan came as a big money player, who would take Barca to the next level.. make them more complete and a player who was in his pomp ready to take over from Eto'o and some.
He's failed with regards to that, he's done decent in the league yes.. but has he lived up to expectation and improved Barca.. the simple answer is no.
Therefore Eto'o has proved to be the better 'signing'.
Also he has a poor second half to the season but he was on fire in the first half, i suppose when you pay as much as they did they were hoping for a sustained period and not just for 6 months. Still you cant write off all the good because of a poor second half (which to be fair he wasnt exactly bad in)
True, and i honestly wouldnt judge a player fully on their first season in a new league for a new team. Some players adapt quicker than others and i think it is in the 2nd season you should really see how they will be.
I'd expect a lot more from Zlatan next season for Barca that is IF he is still at the club. I hope he is but then i would love to see him play in the premiership anyway.
Ibrahimovic fanbois and Northern Europeans finding reasons for Ibra's failure to meet expecations - how original.
I'm Norwegian Lailani.
I think you'll find that Norwegians generally hate Zlatan, and usually don't try to defend anything Swedish.
Other than that: good post.
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