Slight exaggeration!
Would you take Zlatan for a year?
- Thread starter AshRK
- Start date
Scored 17 league goals and 28 in all competitions. He wasnt overrated
He did miss chances but he was also one the main reasons we created so many
He was class for us. Won us the league cup on his own too.
Voted no. Saw him in quite a few games this season and he could hardly walk after 50 minutes let alone run.
No offense but
.Would love to see him back as cover for when our young lads need a rest or for when they need some inspiration.
He was, though. His build-up play wasn't very impressive a lot of the time and his chance conversion was poor. 17 league goals is decent but it's the minimum you'd expect from United's first choice striker. Lukaku's first year here was better and you don't see people label his season as "class".
He'd be the best impact sub in the league, I think, but I doubt his ego would allow him to agree to anything but a guaranteed starting position. Given his age, that's a total nonstarter. I just can't picture a scenario in which this transfer happens.
We need cover for Martial. Rashford can' t do it, maybe Greenwood or play 3-5-2 with Rash/James if martial unavailable. I can't see Ibra being back-up though.
Zlatan scored more goals in less games than Lukaku in both of their first seasons and brought us a cup trophy by a big performance in a final. We also looked more fluid in the attack with him. Of course he was better.
Zlatan missed a lot but actually by December he was very close to the top goal scorer spot, was away by 1 or 2 goals if I remember correctly.
He scored less goals but somehow his season was better? We also were not as fluid in attack and he didn't create as much as Ibra did, but somehow he was better?
You obviously don't like Ibra so lets leave it there
Zlatan scored more than Lukaku, in 6 fewer games as well, in the league. Zlatan also made more of an impact in domestic and european matches. Lukaku managed 0 goals in the CL. Keep up the agenda, though.
? He scored 5 goals in the CL in 2017/18 and 2 in 2018/19.
First year.
Edit: No, you're right. Checked the wrong thing on transfermarkt. That's fair play.
Still, Zlatan was a free transfer and Lukaku was a billion quid. Lukaku was meant to be our long term striker. Different expectations and still Zlatan did marginally better in the league.
I don't understand this ''if Zlatan would be happy with a bit part role'' nonsense. What other sort of fecking role would he have?
He's 38 and has been playing in a retirement league for 2 years. I know the guys got a big ego but i doubt even he's delusional enough to believe he could demand or even be able to be first choice striker for a team in one of the 3 top leagues in the world, which is also probably the most physically demanding of the top leagues.
He's 38 and has been playing in a retirement league for 2 years. I know the guys got a big ego but i doubt even he's delusional enough to believe he could demand or even be able to be first choice striker for a team in one of the 3 top leagues in the world, which is also probably the most physically demanding of the top leagues.
Yeah, that's actually possible. Maybe we didn't create as much, haven't seen the stats for that, but still Lukaku had the same amount of goals as him (-1). What does that tell you?
That Zlatan not only was better in build up play but also better at getting into a position where he'd receive the ball to get a chance.
He's had a fantastic career but he wasn't very impressive in a United-shirt and getting him back now when he's 38 would be beyond Woodward-levels of madness. Keep on being a fanboy.
That he wasn't as good...
We need somebody both in the dressing room and on the pitch that can walk out and, regardless of what FIFA says, act and think like they are the best player around. We need that swagger and belief, something like Cantona used to bring, or Ronaldo and Best back in the day. If that can spread to these young players then we will really have something.
At the moment, as stupid as it is when he talks about it, we need lions.
At the moment, as stupid as it is when he talks about it, we need lions.
See, you've got nothing. Jog on.
Or that Lukaku was more clinical...
He's on the descending curve now, not a good idea. I don't suffer from short term memory to admit he was very good for us pre-injury, though.
I remember we were better going forward in Mourinho's first season, we created a lot of chances but just couldn't finish them.
Or had less chances to score due to not being as good in his link up play and movement...
Anyway irrelevant as we should not be bringing him back
I am not against the idea of bringing in a short-term stop gap to cover for injuries. However, I am not convinced that Zlatan is right for us at the moment. On the plus side he brings title winning experience and a big personality. However, he was never the most mobile forward. We would probably have to change the way we're trying to play to accomodate him, even if he's just a rotational option, and I am not sure it'd be worth it.
What I'd like to see is a Larsson 2007 style signing. Larsson wasn't at his peak anymore, and he wasn't as quick as Saha. However, his style of play was close enough to what we'd lost through Saha's injuries to nurse us through the period. I don't think we need a plan B, which is what Ibra would be. We just need that focal point that Martial gives us when Tony needs a rest.
What I'd like to see is a Larsson 2007 style signing. Larsson wasn't at his peak anymore, and he wasn't as quick as Saha. However, his style of play was close enough to what we'd lost through Saha's injuries to nurse us through the period. I don't think we need a plan B, which is what Ibra would be. We just need that focal point that Martial gives us when Tony needs a rest.
He would instantly lift the dressing room and walk with a swagger. But is he willing to sit on the bench? Because that is all he would and should get IF he comes to United. We have Martial and Greenwood as the CF and should Martial get injured Ole should start playing Greenwood as the CF.
Just had a little rewatch of his league goals for us. 1/17 of his goals came as a result of good link-up play. We scored 54 goals in the league in Zlatan's first season. 68 in Lukaku's first. Better link-up play or not, the numbers are not on his side.
You might want to watch the chances he created for the team to see that.
Yes we scored more in the next season but we created less. These things are all known, numbers are subjective you have to look at all the numbers.
We scored more so maybe you think we were a more creative team? When in fact we created less chances and were just more clinical, we created less due to the issues in the link up play between our forwards
Anyway I'll leave this conversation here
He's not anyway. Everything is pointing to him going to Milan in Jan.
Excellent post, in the sense that Rashford I think has surprised Ole I’m not yet being ready to be the back-up plan a in the Martial position.
There is still room, however, for a different kind of striker against those teams where the quick transition isn’t on or working due to their defensive line and tactics. For this a clearer physical presence is needed, but again Zlatan is too immobile now to provide what’s needed imo, having been near that when he first moved to United.
It doesn't really matter that much if we were slightly more creative that season when we scored 14 goals less in the league, and our lead striker which happened to be Zlatan kept on missing big chances when we needed goals. He missed 18 big goal scoring opportunities in the PL in 2016/17 according to this, the most by far from any player (Aguero 2nd with 13). Lukaku for reference, missed 11 the following year.
Now, I'm not saying he was terrible, just that his influence in his first season here is being massively overrated.
Agree to disagree.
What? He missed a lot of big chances yes, but he also scored some worldies and his build up play was excellent.
I am amazed Yes is winning this. Definitely not the right answer. We need to continue rebuilding the squad. A Haaland, Malen or similar is what we should be looking at.
The only way I would take Zlatan is as an option off the bench. If he were to come in it would completely mess with anything good that we have going right now. Think of a couple years ago when we signed Sanchez. At that time Martial was playing great on the left wing. Then Sanchez came in and Martial went straight to the bench. We have recently taken a step forward in the right direction. No need to take two steps back...
No. Absolutely not. Was dreadful after his injury. He will also slow down our attacks and therefore completely ruin our counter-attacking football.
Fair point.