Zlatan Ibrahimovic

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Brwned said:
He's far more suited to LvG's setup though, at least when his team are on the ball - off the ball he'd probably be a bit of a weak link, but not in a huge way. The biggest issue our strikers have had is that Rooney and van Persie inexplicably lost their strength and ability to hold off defenders, and as a consequence their hold-up play was well below par and they struggled to retain the limited amount of ball they received.

That's a critical part of a striker's game in any team but particularly in this team because we use our forwards to beat the press. We are a possession team so we'll invite teams onto us and have to withstand the press for most of the game, and while we're getting better at it we're clearly not filled with a host of technically excellent players right across the pitch, so having that option up front to relieve the pressure is important. At the moment we don't really have that and we surrender far too easily in those situations.

You can guarantee Ibrahimovic won't struggle to hold off defenders and when he gets the ball he tends to do something progressive with it.
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Fellaini
 
Arruda said:
So he's always up for a fight. Plenty of players like that everywhere. Most of the time those incidents are easily sorted in the locker room. By massive issues I meant serious rows where manager/player has to leave the club or lengthy bans. Things that can really affect the outcome of a season. Players scuffling is probably rather frequent in this kind of environment. When a player is very good, you tend to think his skill clearly outweighs those nuisances unless they're extreme.
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https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&s...SXbXJlMZ7e7bXOvrg&sig2=7r-2j2_jnXep5xwGJXDCMg

Like this? Punch the manager ..... Good attitude there.
 
Tosicsleftpeg said:
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&s...SXbXJlMZ7e7bXOvrg&sig2=7r-2j2_jnXep5xwGJXDCMg

Like this? Punch the manager ..... Good attitude there.
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FFS. Someone said that someone said he said something that never happened...

I'm not implying he has a good attitude. Just that whatever attitude he has, doesn't seem to have detracted much from his performances or the performance of the teams he has played for. Which is, in the end, what matters. He's certainly not in the bracket of players for whom attitude made a dent in their legacy or career.
 
He's one of my all-time favorite players and sports personalities and I wanted United to sign him for years. He was made to play in the PL with his unusual combination of physique and technique, but it never happened. Every club he's been at he wants to be the leader and that's well and good if you're the best player. But a declining Zlatan is not someone I'd want on my team as I can see him struggling to accept this new reduced status in the group. A bit like Keano in that sense. Also there is his "ideological differences" with Van Gaal on football and the latters treatment of players as "schoolchildren" and you know there would be trouble.
 
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I don't think this is going to happen but my god would it be good fun if it did!

No matter what he's like as a person he's a phenomenal talent! And he's not a bad person just very arrogant but we've had a few of those over the years.

For the right price he'd be a sensational signing but it's all rumours and I just don't see that it'll happen which is a shame. I think he'd be perfect in LVGs system.
 
Just sign him. Feck LvG and his stubbornness. We need to get the guy. Isn't he a bit of a crock though?
 
Right now I would do a permanent swap deal and give them Rooney and over £20 mill for him
 
We could do with him. Still think we'd need more quality out wide because Valencia and young are just not the quality we need. He'd be like Cantona I think and maybe some clubs missed a beat letting him join PSG in the first place
 
I'm starting to want this to happen now. He'd suit this side no end.

Can't believe I'm saying this because I know he'd be a pain in the ass off the pitch.
 
K2K said:
Grade A cnut,and having had problems with LVG before, but I would take him now..and see if its true that no striker wouldnt be succesful in our system..
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:lol:
 
He's the kind of player and character that I think the club needs! He's got that swagger and arrogance. Plus he can play up top on his own. He may not be the quickest but at this point I'll accept that.
 
Rich_H_1989 said:
He's the kind of player and character that I think the club needs! He's got that swagger and arrogance. Plus he can play up top on his own. He may not be the quickest but at this point I'll accept that.
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He can also be a total ass and idiot and ruin our team spirit. There are younger players we should be trying to sing. Not Ibra (as much as i like him)
 
Rake said:
He can also be a total ass and idiot and ruin our team spirit. There are younger players we should be trying to sing. Not Ibra (as much as i like him)
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I would rather take the risk than watching our same forwards lacking cojones in front of goal.
 
Amadaeus said:
I love this video. Their will only be one Zlatan Ibrahimovic in football. I would not mind Manchester United doing a herik larsson type loan for him. Then he can go retire in the mls or Saudi Arabia
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You can see that he is thinking: "Look at me. Hey! Look at me, if you touch me again, I deck you."
 
Amadaeus said:
I love this video. Their will only be one Zlatan Ibrahimovic in football. I would not mind Manchester United doing a herik larsson type loan for him. Then he can go retire in the mls or Saudi Arabia
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Only problem is this (from Ibra's auto biography)....

We headed to a training camp in Portugal and, by that time Beenhakker had resigned as director and was replaced by Louis van Gaal. Van Gaal was a pompous ass. He was a little like Co Adriaanse. He wanted to be a dictator, without a hint of a gleam in his eye. As a player, he'd never stood out, but he was revered in the Netherlands because, as a manager, he'd won the Champions League with Ajax and received some medal from the government.

Van Gaal liked to talk about playing systems. He was one of those in the club who referred to the players as numbers. There was a lot of Five goes here and Six goes there, and I was glad when I could avoid him. In Portugal, I couldn't escape. I had to go in for a meeting with van Gaal and Koeman and listen to how they viewed my contribution in the first half of the season. It was like a performance review with grades, the kind of thing they loved at Ajax. I went into an office there and sat down in front of van Gaal and Ronald Koeman. Koeman smiled. Van Gaal looked sullen.

"Zlatan," said Koeman, "you've played brilliantly, but you're only getting an eight. You haven't worked hard enough at the back."

"Okay, fine," I said, wanting to leave.

I liked Koeman, but couldn't cope with van Gaal, and I thought, Great, an eight will do me. Can I have a break now?

"Do you know how to play in defense?" Van Gaal was sticking his oar in, and I could see that Koeman was getting annoyed too.

"I hope so," I replied.

Then van Gaal started to explain, and, believe me, I'd heard it all before. It was the same old stuff about how Nine—that is, me— defends to the right, while Ten goes to the left, and vice versa, and he drew a bunch of arrows and finished with a really harsh "Do you understand? Do you get all this?," and I took it as an attack.

"You can wake up any of the players at three in the morning," I said, "and ask them how to defend and they'll rattle it off in their sleep: Nine goes here and Ten goes there. We know that stuff, and we know you're the one who came up with it. But I've trained with van Basten, and he thinks otherwise."

"Excuse me?"

"Van Basten says Number Nine should save his strength for attacking and scoring goals, and, to tell the truth, now I don't know who I should listen to, van Basten—who's a legend—or van Gaal?" I said, putting special emphasis on the name van Gaal, as if he were some completely insignificant figure.

And what do you reckon? Was he happy?

He was fuming. Who should I listen to, a legend or van Gaal? "I've gotta go now," I said, and got out of there.
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Raoul said:
Only problem is this (from Ibra's auto biography)....
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Christ, Van Gaal must be hard to get along with :lol:. Anyway, that is the distance past. His relationship might not be so terrible or akward right now. I remember Rooney writing some things about Moyes in his biography and things turned out ok between the two of them.
 
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Raoul said:
Only problem is this (from Ibra's auto biography)....
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He was a young man. He'd love to play for us. Just watch that interview he did some short time ago. When asked about his current relationship with LvG he said: "Not good". I just think they haven't spoken for a decade and Zlatan would bury the feud if the chance to play here came up. He also said something like: "There would be many fights, but i like that".
 
Am I the only one who doesn't like his antics on the pitch? I don't find it 'cool' at all, just a lack of respect towards colleagues.
 
VorZakone said:
Am I the only one who doesn't like his antics on the pitch? I don't find it 'cool' at all, just a lack of respect towards colleagues.
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Not hard to see why Fergie didn't buy him. Not really his kind of player, probably for the same reasons. In fairness, the time to buy him was when Ruud moved on.
 
Raoul said:
Only problem is this (from Ibra's auto biography)....
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Zlatan's autobiography ghostwriter admitted few months back he invented many quotes in the book and it was almost a novel. Yea, LvG and Zlatan's relationship isn't the best but it is very much possible that those quotes are made up as well.
Plus as Zlatan is 34 now, who knows they might get along for last 2 years of their careers for a common goal. Zlatan finishing with a league medal in one more country and elusive CL medal :D
 
VorZakone said:
Am I the only one who doesn't like his antics on the pitch? I don't find it 'cool' at all, just a lack of respect towards colleagues.
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You're not the only one. I find him to be crass and obnoxious. To top it all off, despite his formidable reputation, I don't feel he's as good a player as people say he is.
 
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