The response to Zlatan was certainly quite underwhelming, which I didn't expect. There inherently is a huge overlap in playing styles between SS and F9. Players like Rooney, Kane etc do fit well as F9.
Having Messi as the blueprint for F9 is just impractical. He was the pinnacle of that position.
I certainly can't figure out the lack of "creativity", when it's not necessarily a requirement of F9. Ability to link up play with wide forwards is pretty much is what that position needs and Zlatan definitely does have it.