At Manchester United, Ibrahimovic was welcomed with open arms and hailed as the next big thing for United since the exit of Ruud Van Nistelrooy In 2003 as United have struggled to find a lethal finisher although Robin Van Persie had a perfect season in 2012/2013 while the likes of Louis Saha, Carlos Tevez and Dmitri Berbatov have all struggled to reach the heights of the former PSV striker in Old Trafford.
This season, Ibrahimovic started off in an impressive fashion scoring a goal in the Community Shield against Leicester City following it up with goals against Bournemouth, Southampton (brace) and Manchester City before drawing blank in the past five games in the Premier League. As if that wasn’t enough, United have also lost thrice in the Premier League this season, going winless in the last three games conceding five in the process and scoring just once.
Having lost 4-0 to an impressive Chelsea side on Sunday, Ibrahimovic was widely criticised by United fans after camera caught him smiling and swapping shirts with Chelsea’s Eden Hazard at the end of the game.
“You don’t stand around on the pitch swapping shirts and laughing with the team that’s just beat you,” Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs said after the game, via the Independent.
Ibrahimovic has clearly been playing without service upfront in recent games as United’s midfielders have failed to provide him with service with the team struggling upfront in front of goal.
For now Jose Mourinho must do something to save the club from the present free fall as the slide shows no signs of halting having gained only 14 points in nine games and five points off final Champions League qualification spot and six points off leaders Manchester City.
