Former Manchester United captain, Gary Neville believes the club's Swedish striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovic will find his form soon after a disappointing outing at Burnley on Saturday. Man United played out a 0-0 draw with the newly promoted side after some lackadaisical finishing by the United players as well as some heroic defending by Burnley.
After having scored four goals in his first three matches for United, Ibrahimovic's form has been on a slump ever since having last scored a goal on September 29 in the UEFA Europa League fixture against Zorya. The Swede has failed to score a single goal in the last six matches despite having many chances created for him.
In Manchester United's most recent fixture against Burnley at Old Trafford, the home side made 37 attempts at goal but were not able to breach the away defence even once, thanks to some unbelievable goalkeeping from former United academy product, Tom Heaton.
Of the aforementioned 37 goal attempts, Ibrahimovic had 12 shots himself. Now, no one would really expect the striker to convert each of those 12 chances. However, a player of his calibre would most certainly be expected to finish a few of those opportunities created.
Whether it is fatigue from having played all Premier League games or a lack of confidence is something that is not clear yet. Neville, however, believes that the 35-year-old was just unlucky against Burnley.
“It could have been six, seven or eight and Burnley wouldn't have had any complaints. They were brilliant chances. The Zlatan Ibrahimovic chance at the end just summed it up. United created so many chances and should have taken them. It's not happening for them at the moment or Ibrahimovic, who is a good finisher,” he said.
As expected, Ibrahimovic is leading the table for most shots taken during the 2016/17 Premier League so far with 57 to his name. What is more shocking is, the Man United striker has taken 42 shots since the Premier League match against Manchester City (September 10) where he scored one goal which is the higher than second-placed Philippe Coutinho's 41 shots in the season so far.
The Swede's form has become a worrying factor for Jose Mourinho as his team is struggling to score goals despite dominating games. The manager will have some tough decisions to make with regard to who should lead the forward line, considering that even club captain Wayne Rooney is out of form.
Maybe Ibrahimovic, being 35 years old, needs some time off the pitch to recover to full fitness and, thus, to good scoring form. The Red Devils travel to Turkey this week to play against Fenerbahce in the Europa League, and it will be expected that Ibrahimovic gets some rest before the weekend's outing against Swansea City.
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