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Zlatan Ibrahimović
- Thread starter MyOnlySolskjaer
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Not exactly inspiring news.Great for one season but seriously,we should be aiming a bit higher.
It doesn't get any higher than Zlatan.
He's free, he'll come back in seamlessly and he'll give the entire squad a mid-season lift. No brainer.
Seriously can we not at least wait until we know he can play at the top level again. If we offer anything, it should be on a pay as you play/score basis with deductions for sitters missed!
It's not that exciting. Our attack needs quick skillful wingers who can cross, not another big powerful forward.
If he rejoins us its likely because we know this.
But we knew this anyhow.
While he is recovering here and not already gone to another club. We are always in pole position to re-sign him
While he is recovering here and not already gone to another club. We are always in pole position to re-sign him
Could give us a great boost from January onwards and would be amazing end to his career if he can help us win a big trophy. That said, we still need another attacking player as a priority.
This is probably why we didn't extend his contract in the first place. By all accounts his recovery looks to be going well, he's roaming around the City centre without crutches or any support.
How will he enjoy the bench?
Zlatan/Lukaku vs a low level or newly promoted team might score double digits. Would be almost unfair.
We need any goal scorer available. He'll a good addition and in many games we'll need to press the opponent more with 2 strikers in the box to increase the chance of us scoring, something we lacked heavily during the last season.
Play him as a 10 behind Lukaku.
We'll also hit fixture congestion very soon, and Rashford/Martial are not reliable enough cover in the event of Lukaku injury, as we saw last year when Ibra got injured.
More then enough games and situations when Ibra will be invaluble.
More treading water.
..until we sign Griezmann next summer.
He's going to be 36 coming off of major knee surgery. Just move on already.
feck me, complaining about a free transfer for 6 months. You guys will literally complain about anything won't you.
If he's healthy he's healthy. We already know that age means feck all with Zlatan.
This.
However a bit concerned of Martial if/when Zlatan comes back. Better not mean Rashford moves to the wing and overtakes Martial's LW spot. Was honestly shocked he didn't play today and Lingard out of all people got the start over him.
I disagree, I think that's an overly simplistic way of looking at it. While most athletes eventually recover from ACL surgery, their performance generally drops the season after they return. I haven't seen any studies done in football, but there was actually a medical study done in basketball about this very phenomenon. Since you're in LA, I'll use Kobe as an example. He suffered an achilles tear in the back-end of his career at the same age as Zlatan (35), and came back a shell of the player he was before. These high-impact injuries are more difficult to recover from the older you are.
I also bring up his age because he doesn't have many years of service left. Unless he's willing to come back largely for a ceremonial role (which would shock me given...it's Zlatan), I'd rather we explored other opportunities.
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Put the injury aside. If we sign him it would obviously be with full medical clearance that he is fit. Its the club's job to suss all of that out, but if we hear news of Ibra's return, it can be assumed he is ready to perform at a high level.
I see this as an amazing signing because he can contribute goals and provide leadership both on the pitch as well as in the dressing room. I would be very concerned if we went into this season with the prospect of not getting him back as Lukaku and Rashford alone, are almost certainly not going to be enough and we're not making any more big signings until next summer. Thus getting Ibra back alongside Lukaku is essential as it would be absolutely devastating for oppos to defend against.
We wouldn't be exploring other opportunities in January. He would literally be a bonus signing, that's it. If he's not good enough, he won't play. Simple.
Exactly. Gatlin just owned Bolt at 35
not for the £24 million a season we payed him last year.
ungrateful peasants
An Achilles tear is worse than an ACL tear though.
And Kobe while athletically gifted, isn't close to Ibra in this regard.
The man is a legend. He'll lift the club and take a lot of pressure off the other players.
Great personality to have in that fourth strikers position behind Lukaku the obvious starter and Marcus/Martial as the backup strikers. He'd definitely be a useful rotational player providing we don't play him for 90 minutes when he is obviously not being effective in a game.
If he is ready to be a bench player, I`m not against this. 3-5-2 with Lukaku and Ibra at some point probably.
All of the above.
Anyone against Zlatan joining half way through the season is simply moronic. He's an absolute legend and would've won the golden boot had he not gotten injured last season. More options/depth the better. We are not stupid enough to say no to someone with as much talent and as much of an aura as he does. He has that engine that motivates teammates and puts fear in opponents eyes. Plus we all know he wants to finish the job in England / why he came here in the first place (wants a new challenge to win the EPL) and would be huge for the title race towards the second half of the year + CL competition.
...I just hope it doesn't mean José plays Rashford over Martial at the starting LW spot, he just needs to commit to him and give him the benefit of the doubt to let him grow. If anything, Rashford should potentially be playing RW if Mikhi continues to be as inconsistent as he has been. Wouldn't mind seeing a front 3 of
----------Lukaku/Ibra
Martial------------------Rashford
in certain games. Certainly a different look and the best of both worlds in terms of letting Martial and Rashford both play without hindering one or the others development/playing time.
How exactly is this supposed to work ?
We paid 75m for Lukaku, so we can absolutley not start using him as a bench player and Zlatan is Zlatan who will also never accept to being a bench player. So that means both will need to be on the pitch.
But then what do we do with our midfield 3 that everybody was raving about ? Because playing a midfield 3 with 2 central strikers that simply doesn't work unless you start playing 3-5-2. Which with our lack of any decent wingbacks will come down more as a 5-3-2 which will simply be super defensive and lack any sort of attacking players with speed who can dribble and get past a man which basically will mean we will have to start playing hoofball from the back to our 2 towers upfront.
No I can absolutley not say any of this excites me.
We paid 75m for Lukaku, so we can absolutley not start using him as a bench player and Zlatan is Zlatan who will also never accept to being a bench player. So that means both will need to be on the pitch.
But then what do we do with our midfield 3 that everybody was raving about ? Because playing a midfield 3 with 2 central strikers that simply doesn't work unless you start playing 3-5-2. Which with our lack of any decent wingbacks will come down more as a 5-3-2 which will simply be super defensive and lack any sort of attacking players with speed who can dribble and get past a man which basically will mean we will have to start playing hoofball from the back to our 2 towers upfront.
No I can absolutley not say any of this excites me.
As a sub I've no issue with him returning. But if the plan is to use him and Lukaku together, I don't see how that improves our attack at all. For that to work we'd need quality fullbacks/winger,s which we haven't got.
To begin with, we weren't great with Zlatan. Him missing tens of clear chances was one of the main reasons why United finished 6th in the league, 24 pts behind the champions.
The thought that at 36, after suffering a horrific injury, he could lead a team to glory is naive at best.
The thought that at 36, after suffering a horrific injury, he could lead a team to glory is naive at best.
What other opportunities are there for a free 6 month mid season singing? That is one of the most experienced and successful players in the world ? Or do you want to sign a bench striker for 50m who will just moan about the bench until he is sold for 10 million in 2 years? We need cover up front this is the perfect chance to sort that until next summer
He also scored 28 goals.
The main reasons?
Nar, the main reasons were that no other attacker got even close to an acceptable goal tally (also the fact that Mourinho threw the league with a month to go).
If you think the 28 goal man was one of the main problems then you really do have a bizarre view of the World.
Considering we haven't improved this Summer on any attacking area than striker I'd suggest goals from other attackers is most likely to be a huge problem again. But yeah, let's not resign a free agent who'll guarantee a shit load of goals
Given that the whole team was set up to create chances for him, scoring 28 from countless chances wasn't a big deal.
Cavani scored 49 for PSG. And they didn't have a particularly good season.
Okay.
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