Manchester United: Benching Zlatan Ibrahimovich is not the answer

Zlatan Ibrahimovich is in a rough patch of form after initially starting the season on fire. However, benching the striker is not the answer to Manchester United’s problems.

Zlatan Ibrahimovich flew out of the gates to start his first season with Manchester United. Scoring four goals in four Premier League games, Ibrahimovich put any doubts surrounding him to bed in the early goings of the season.

But following the first four games, Ibrahimovich then failed to score in the next six league outings. The culmination of Zlatan’s dip in form being this past weekend when United drew 0-0 with Burnley at Old Trafford.

Ibrahimovich missed a slew of chances to score and give his team the lead. Chances that the Ibrahimovich of the first four games would have probably scored at least one of. The draw means United now sit in eighth position in the standings.

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To say Manchester United are under-performing would be an understatement. Jose Mourinho is already coming under increasing pressure. Star players are falling below expectations, like Paul Pogba, Wayne Rooney and Ibrahimovich.

Rooney has already been dropped to the bench. Now suggestions are being made that Ibrahimovich should be the next star to be demoted to a bench role. After all, the Swede hasn’t scored for six games. And he did miss a plethora of chances against Burnley.

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But despite Ibrahimovich clearly being out of form, dropping the 35-year-old is not the answer to United’s woes. It’s being assumed in some quarters that at his age, maybe Ibrahimovich just isn’t the same player anymore.

That maybe he’s left it too late in his career to test himself in the Premier League. And that physically, he just isn’t up to the rigours of the Premier League, or even some of the off-ball duties – like pressing – of a striker.

However, firstly, the fact Ibrahimovich missed all those chances against Burnley shows just why he must remain in the team. The worry would be if Zlatan no longer had the movement and mobility to find space and be open for chances.

That’s clearly not an issue, though. The first yard is in his head. He’s getting the chances, he’s just missing them. And besides, finishing is not something you lose with age either. Ibrahimovich will still be a good finisher when he’s a 40-year-old.

Right now, it’s just one of those phases where the ball’s not going in. It’s physical attributes that decline with age. Although, Zlatan has never been particularly fast anyway. Plus, the way Mourinho sets up the United team, the striker is not required to be that mobile or press aggressively anyway.

So, off the ball, Ibrahimovich may not be what he once was. He is slower and more ponderous. But that’s not the issue he’s having at United. His issues are that sometimes he is left isolated up front on his own and that he just can’t finish right now.

The fact he sometimes gets isolated is not his fault. The goals? They’ll come. It’s a matter of time. If the rest of the United team can continue to supply him with chances, then the goals will come for sure.

It’s also worth noting that Ibrahimovich is not likely to be the best teammate if he was to be relegated to being a backup. Deserved or not. This is the personality United took on when they brought him in. They knew this was what they were getting, presumably.

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Dropping Ibrahimovich would create more problems than it would solve, and not just off the field. Ibrahimovich will still come good on the pitch. Right now, much like Rooney, he’s just an easy target. But in reality, United have bigger problems than Zlatan at present.

The last thing the Red Devils need to do, for a host of reasons, is to drop the Swede and create any more.