#2. Is this it for the Zlatan Ibrahimovic experiment?
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has now gone six league games without scoring for the first time since a particularly barren December for Inter Milan... way back in 2007. He had 12 shots on goals – including a one-on-one chance, a header that looped off the bar, and a miss from all of 1 yard out.
The trolls were out in full force – sample Gary Linekar here:
To say that he was awful, however, would be overstating it – he linked up excellently with Paul Pogba especially, and Juan Mata and produced some of the most sublime touches seen tonight.
In the end, though, if you are playing as a lone striker in a 4-2-3-1, that man needs to score. And Zlatan looks like he can't score to save his life.
What can United do then? The decline of Wayne Rooney is too sad, and too evident to talk about here (that last minute chance was his chance for redemption, you know it!) and Anthony Martial is out injured – as is James Wilson (remember him?). Common sense would dictate that Marcus Rashford takes his natural place at the head of the line – but would that be piling too much pressure on one so young?
Jose Mourinho has a massive headache on his hands here, no way two ways about it, and for once, Zlatan does not look like the solution.
