He needs to get his fitness up to the required level to be an option to play the ninety minutes so we can give Lukaku a break.
10
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 7
- Goals
- 1
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 0
- Status
At what exactly?!
How about everything?
His timing was off on every aerial duel, and just pumping balls up to him is a waste anyway, Ibra does his best work with the ball on the deck.
So many people took him for granted last year, he should be our starting striker for the foreseeable future.
Zlatan was a great player. Hopefully he can contribute in some important games this season.
He'll end up more of a hindrance, how we played last season with him upfront was boring to watch, we can't have that again.
He's best coming off the bench when we need a goal, Lukaku will come good with the goals soon enough.
He's best coming off the bench when we need a goal, Lukaku will come good with the goals soon enough.
This. He controlled a high/long ball, played it to Mata, who beautifully set up Martial, who laid it on a plate for Lukaku.
Everyone reading this, rewind back to the first bit, 'he controlled a high/long ball'; Lukuka did this maybe twice for every 20 balls that came to him. Imagine if he actually played in others?
He was pretty much invisible when he came on, it was like playing with 10 men. Still finding his way back of course but he’ll be needed through Christmas so hopefully he can get some sort of performance level back soon.
Mistimed every header today
Shooting, Dribbling, Heading, Passing, Defending... need I go on?
Did well for that Lukaku chance.
Definitely think he's nowhere near fit though.
Definitely think he's nowhere near fit though.
Believe he took a huge pay cut of 225 grand/wk. Thing is he's still earning 125 grand.
For real. Not to mention that he's far from fully fit and wasn't included in the last two or three match squads for that reason.
He's too old. Gets on the field, laughs about, tries a few flicks, maybe a few come off and we all go ooo zlatan until it's final whistle and he's smiling about with his mates and the opposing team mates. Then there's the "I'm a lion" stuff he does during post match interviews.
As an occasional sub that might play a few cup games, I am fine with Zlatan but if we're going to rely on a pensioner as our main outlet we're in deep trouble
As an occasional sub that might play a few cup games, I am fine with Zlatan but if we're going to rely on a pensioner as our main outlet we're in deep trouble
I think Mourinho knows he is more or less past it since his surgery as one would expect. He's only played briefly here and there, but I'd be shocked if he gets back to a good level this season. ACL tears aren't easy to come back from at all and there's no shame in that. But saying that, I don't see him having much of a role going forward. Just kinda walks around on the pitch and doesn't really throw himself into any 50/50 or physical duel like he used to.
He's just too old, giving him another contract wasn't probably the wisest decision all things considered.
Glad to see him getting back to fitness but he's not really ready yet, not sure what he brings off the bench if he isn't just like-for-like replacing Lukaku.
This!
Heaping praise over Ibra for his part in the best chance we had: We can get Andy Caroll in to do that and the heading problem would be sorted taboot. Now we're stooping!
I don't think he's fully fit tbf, but I doubt he returns to a top level. ACL tears are no joke. I'm still amazed he's recovered so soon.
Don't think we can depend on Zlatan as a starter anymore. What's the chance a 36 year old can become fully fit again. He can go all Charlie Sheen and tell us he has tiger blood or whatever, but he's a fine stand in for the first striker for this season, nothing more.
A fully fit Zlatan is still better than Lukaku. He's only had a few 10-15 cameos since coming back. We need him to start playing games now though. When he gets back to how he was last year fitness wise, I have no doubt he will produce the goods. The problem is how long will that take and will he recover enough to make a proper impact as we enter the business end of the season. I'm a big believer in Zlatan and it isn't fair to assess him until he is starting games again.
Thats an odd thing to say considering we have no idea how good he can still become.
Considering how poor Lukaku has been doing he may well get enough chances to prove himself. If he is close to his old self I'd still prefer him. If he is not then we can evaluate then, seem odd to say there is no chance of him returning to good form so he shouldn't get a chance just because we think he is old. Many thought he was way to old last season as well.
I'd like to see him lead the line again during xmas before i say this or that.
That is exactly what every single pundit said when we first signed him and look what happened, he scored 27 goals.
Thought it was 28 and that wasn't even a full season..
Get him up and running and maybe we'll have a striker worthy of our shirt.
I honestly don't care about what the pundits say but I'll try to explain some things from my perspective. We have adopted a faster style of playing when attacking this season, which has resulted in many more goals scored than last season so Zlatan really doesn't fit in well. Also he's back from a horrible injury, him at 100% wouldn't worked well with this current style so him not fully fit from an ACL injury is asking a lot from him.
He looks to be playing within himself so far, he was supposed to be like a January signing but he's come back early and it shows.
I was hoping he could take the pressure off Lukaku during the winter period since games come so quick, but it probably won't happen.
I was hoping he could take the pressure off Lukaku during the winter period since games come so quick, but it probably won't happen.
I'm not talking about form though. I'm talking about fit to play 90 minutes week in week out. I hope Lukaku comes good, but you can't rely on a 36 year old to play 50 matches a year. He *might* be able to, but that's a rather big if, and not exactly sound planning for the future.
I'm not sure how people can come to these conclusions based on a few sub appearances. He played a key role in winning a physical battle and keeping the ball under pressure in our best piece of play in the entire game. I reckon he'll play very important role in 2018. The next 6 or 7 games I can only see him playing a bit part role to regain his match fitness.
He's 36 and just come back from a serious injury. Disagree sure but it's hardly "odd" to say he won't be a regular starter again.
Maybe it was 28 mate? But anyway that is very impressive and he showed that age is just a number with him. Fair enough he had a major injury but he will still play a part this season.
Think we might see him start tonight? Another tough game at weekend. I've a gut feeling tonight will be his comeback goal
Spot on.
Even if that were true hed still score more and assist more than lukaku whilst still having "fun" as evident by stats thus far. Ibra played for united in a new league to him under a team with a new coach and new game plan with players who had not gotten the time to gel under the new coach. Lukaku have had the benefit of playing under an upgraded side with much more clear intent on how to play and the experience of a season to try and play in that way yet he scores and assists less and is obviously a downgrade in the general play and hold up but somehow he is a much more suited player despite his terrible form.
Okay if lukaku was the sure future wonder child then i could get that one would want to keep playing him regardless of anything but i dont think he is as i dont think he has the goods to be what united needs to lift the club another level long term. Tho he will of course be here longer than ibra.
I think Mou will continue to play lukaku no matter what, not because he thinks he is the better choice but for the sake of knowing that benching him to play ibra at this point could prove to be a disaster for lukaku development as he likely needs his coach full confidence right now in order to get back on track. Think Mou has a lot to think about in this regard. Maybe if the title is surely lost in a month or so his option will be easier as it would then make more sense to go with the long term prospect no matter the form.
If ibra comes back in form i personally think he will be a big upgrade to this team. He might not however come back to form and then its obviously another story. But id love to c him get the chances as his form improves under the coming month.
Lukaku is out of form but still the better striker right now but both are simply not good enough to lead out attack, especially in big games. Lukaku has more pace and physicality at this stage. He is terribly out of form but he is a good striker.
I personally think we need to upgrade on Lukaku and keep him as a backup/rotation option. That or it was just a flop transfer and we need to cut our losses. Sometimes players don't make it to that next level and maybe Lukaku wasn't able to. Still, playing Ibra would be worse. He has lost almost all his mobility and physicality.
This is weird. Something is up with Z, id be surprised if not. Did he have a setback 2 weeks ago when he was left out of the squad? Did he feel something in his knee again in training? Looked weird when he was trying to jump for the hoofballs against city too + i cant imagine him not getting more minutes in that game if he was okay physically with us trailing.
Hope I'm wrong but id be surprised if this was just about fitness now.
Hope I'm wrong but id be surprised if this was just about fitness now.Could be possible that Jose thinks he's nowhere near ready to play. I mean the man is 36 and coming off an ACL tear.
Maybe a set-back did occur, but I think time may have caught up to Ibra. He's still human.
Maybe a set-back did occur, but I think time may have caught up to Ibra. He's still human.
Blasphemy!
I agree. He still has a long way to go before being ready to make a big impact. I believe Mourinho and Ibrahimovic rushed getting him ready for the starting eleven, maybe they thought it would boost the teams morale having him fit so soon.
But I still think about what Mourinho said about Ibrahimovic earlier - he was expecting having him ready in January and it looks like these short subs are a step in that direction to build up his physique.
I really like the player but from what I have seen from these couple of games, he has a long way to go. I do hope we can see him get back to his previous ability, but I am also realistic. Sometimes mind over matter does not work, not even for the big Swede.
I will wait until about mid January before I will be critical with his performances.
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