dayokanu:

What did the presence of Buffon, Canavaro, Del piero Trezeguet, Nedved and other world class star did to Ibra in Juve? 7 goals in 35 Matches right?

A taller version of Berbasulk in Nou Camp. They are the same age and Etoo is far more accomplished

Why Ibrahimovic is ace
Tue Jul 28 08:55AM


It is the transfer coup of the century. In flogging Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Barcelona, Internazionale have managed to offload a problem player, and have received one of the greatest strikers in the world, Samuel Eto'o, plus a massive suitcase full of cash and the use of Alex Hleb for a season.

Barcelona have taken leave of their senses and will now combust faster than a firework at a petrol station.

It is a popular view. Even the Observer's normally excellent Paul Hayward has dismissed Ibrahimovic as: "A Serie A myth who should not be allowed anywhere near the new European champions."

Eto'o is the ruthless assassin who snuffed out Manchester United's Champions League challenge, and formed the focal point of the world's most devastating attack.

Ibrahimovic is the temperamental, inconsistent enigma who has filled his boots in an inferior and discredited league, but struggled to perform on the big stage.

That is the theory. And it is absolute rubbish.

Early Doors doesn't know whether Ibrahimovic is worth £40 million plus Eto'o and a bit of Hleb, but he is undoubtedly one of the world's best players, and anyone who believes otherwise simply isn't looking hard enough.

So, let's explode some myths.

1 - La Liga is a huge step up from Serie A

Barcelona are better than Internazionale, no doubt. But are they playing in a superior league? Absolutely not.

Serie A's finest teams might not be as good as they were, but the general standard is just as good as in Spain, where the quality fades horribly in the lower reaches.

The fact that Barcelona scored 105 goals in 38 Liga games says as much about the defending of most Spanish sides as it does about the Catalans' attacking firepower.

Barca scored only three more league points than Inter last season yet scored very nearly a goal a game more.

That suggests there is more than a little cannon fodder in the lower reaches of the Liga table - cannon fodder like Sporting Gijon, who shipped a massive 79 goals and were not even relegated.

For pity's sake, the minute Diego Forlan and Fredi Kanoute touched down on Spanish soil, they transformed into the second comings of Ferenc Puskas and Eusebio.

2 - Ibrahimovic is too temperamental to be any good

Ibrahimovic might be outspoken but he is not noted for clashing with his team-mates or managers. Well, not since he and Mido fought each other with scissors at Ajax, anyway.

He was open about wanting to leave Inter for pastures new, but in a measured, reasonable way. Compare Zlatan's approach with the histrionics of Carlos Tevez, and make your own conclusions over who is the volatile one.

Eto'o is no saint either. He had a training-ground bust-up with coach Pep Guardiola in January and is prone to the odd barbed quote.

Simply put, Ibrahimovic is the kind of player Brits hate. Just because he looks languid, he is pigeon-holed as an inconsistent underachiever. Never mind the fact that he plays like a more skilful Didier Drogba.

3 - He has never performed on the big stage

This one is hard to refute, but only if you replace 'big stage' with 'when English people are watching'.

True, Ibrahimovic hardly covered himself in glory against Manchester United in last season's Champions League, and his overall record in Europe (18 goals in 66 games) is not great.

It is also the case that he performed poorly at Euro 2008, although he was carrying an injury and at least managed to get there, which is more than can be said for Wayne Rooney.

The problem is that few Brits watched him score twice on the final day of the 2007/08 season to win the Scudetto for Inter; significant big-match heroics.

And just because nobody saw the moments of magic that won him Serie A's 2008 Player of the Year award, plus the 2008/09 goal of the season and Capocannoniere titles, that doesn't make them any less valid.

The bottom line is that Ibrahimovic is a more complete player than Eto'o, he won't spend a month of this season at the African Cup of Nations and, most crucially, he wants to be at Barcelona.

Like Francesco Totti, he is the kind of player that just happens to rub British fans up the wrong way, but few can truly doubt he is a special talent.

While the Catalans might not have got themselves a bargain, Ibrahimovic has all the credentials to be a huge success at the Camp Nou, and stick it to his critics.

http://eurosport.yahoo.com/football/early-doors/article/186277/

dayokanu:

@Ruudie

Etoo has scored against all the big teams he played against

Chelsea, Arsenal, Man Utd, Real Madrid, Lyon, Bayern, AC Milan all conceded to Etoo

I need just two big teams in the CL that Zlatan has scored against Just two ok start from one.

Thats what the media from soccernet to bbc have to write about Zlatans performance in BIG games

dayokanu:

@Ruudie

Etoo has scored against all the big teams he played against

Chelsea, Arsenal, Man Utd, Real Madrid, Lyon, Bayern, AC Milan all conceded to Etoo

I need just two big teams in the CL that Zlatan has scored against Just two ok start from one.

Thats what the media from soccernet to bbc have to write about Zlatans performance in BIG games .                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Thank u again dk. We can all write long stories to support our favourite players however when this stories are based on sentiments not facts it begins to sound funny. Marco vaio scored 24league goals in serie a last season one less than ibra. The only difference is that he was playing for bologna

BlueDiva:

Eto, Hleb and 45mil
Ibra ain't worth it.

biina:

That article is BS. It didnt compare Ibra to Eto'o, which was the relevant comparism but rather compared Ibra to selected players in selected areas.
- The fact that eto'o scored and Barca put two past the full ManU defence in one game, while Ibra and Inter couldnt score against their depleted versions over two legs shows the difference in attacking power of the players and the clubs.
- He talks about eto'o's bust up with pepe in January but forgot that Pep had tried to sell samuel the prior summer and the relationship had been poor from the word go. Pep fired the first Salvo, not eto'o
Yet he forgot to mention Ibra issues like his allegedly hurting Ajax team mate VDV intentionally, his '70M euros Madrid bid' publicity stunt, his forceful extrication from juventus, and his high wage demands at inter.
- He never rebutted that Ibra has never performed on the big stage annd only tried to excuse it by making comaprisms to other players.

Barca got rimmed, and it is as simple as that.

hustler:

Like i've been saying for some time now, lets wait and see. Ibra did it almost by himself at Inter. When you look at the telepathic partnerships he had with players there, it was almost non-existent, save for Maicon on rare occassions.

Now surrounded by Xavi,Iniesta,Messi and Henry, somebody is insinuating that he will flop. Time will tell. Looking at his early Serie A career. we can say that he didn't really kick off his goal scoring exploits with consistency but he won best serie a foreign footballer in his first season when he netted 16 goals,

His quality and all round play was enough for Capello to send Del Piero to the bench for the most part as he preferred pairing Ibra and Trez whenever Trez was available. His assists record tells the rest of the story and his goal against Roma away when he practically ruined Kuffour's career summarizes his season for me in 06.

15 goals,17 goals and then 25 goals in his 3 seasons at Inter sure shows progression and his development into a prolific goal scorer and the standard of a number of his goals were of the highest quality.

Say what you want , i have no doubt Ibra will shame his critics while playing at Barca. Some body said he didnt know what Ibra would add to Barca that they didnt have with Eto. If you watch the games against Chelsea and Man u carefully in 2009 and 2008 semi final UCL respectively u would understand what he would add to the team.

YES in the big games he has flopped big time, however if he continues this trend at Barca with the quality of players he is surrounded by now, i will be the first to admit that i know not a thing about football.

Ibra carried Inter alone at his time there and it was practically a one man team. Come on the guy deserves plaudits for what he did there particularly. At Barca he now has the chance to win more titles, score more goals and win higher accolades ( Ballon D'or on the horizon). He knows this.

chic2pimp:

as u lot seem to attribute every one of samu's sucess to the ability of his teammates, i have also decided to do the same with ibrahimovic next season. No mattter how he well performs, i have already made up my mind that it is now done to his ability rather he has his teamates to thank for his sucess.

His quality and all round play was enough for Capello to send Del Piero to the bench for the most part as he preferred pairing Ibra and Trez whenever Trez was available. His assists record tells the rest of the story and his goal against Roma away when he practically ruined Kuffour's career summarizes his season for me in 06.

15 goals,17 goals and then 25 goals in his 3 seasons at Inter sure shows progression and his development into a

RuuDie:

. . . . thats grossly untrue; Eto'o was king at Mallorca and was doing the business well enough without an abundance of assisting talents - even if he hadn't moved to Barca, it was only a matter of time before Europe's biggest clubs came calling for his signature!

dayokanu:

The seasons Ibra shined were the downturn of the seria A. Since 2007 when Juve was demoted and all other teams had points deducted that marked the downturn of the Serie A. Milan simply focused on the CL and left Inter with the Serie A.
Milan has since then been content with coming 4th and playing CL while Inter were flopping all over.

Last season with Ibra calling the shots at Inter, They scrapped to qualifywinning only 2 games in a group of Anathosis, Bremen and Panathinaikos losing to bremen Pana(at San Siro) drawing Famagusta

2008 they were humbled by Liverpool Home and away with Ibra blowing away chances like there was no tomorrow.

In 2007 where was Ibra when Bayern was humiliating Inter at San Siro before Valencia booted Ibra and co out.


You mean a Kuffour that was way past his prime? prolific goal scorer and the standard of a number of his goals were of the highest quality.

The same quality that made a support striker score 7 goals in 35 games

biina:

Barcelona’s Aliaksandr Hleb Close To Stuttgart Loan
Aliaksandr Hleb had been included in the Samuel Eto'o-Zlatan Ibrahimovic swap deal between Barcelona and Inter Milan, but he has turned down the opportunity to represent the Italian champions, according to the latest reports.
It is understood that he prefers to team up with Stuttgart, where he spent five years from 2000-2005 before signing for Arsenal.
According to Sport, Barcelona have agreed to loan Hleb out to Stuttgart, with the Belarus international expected to undergo a medical this afternoon.
Meanwhile, it is reported that Barcelona will pay Inter an additional €4.5 million for Ibrahimovic as Hleb is no longer included in the deal.

http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/222/transfer-zone/2009/07/29/1410694/barcelonas-aliaksandr-hleb-close-to-stuttgart-loan-report

The failings of a wannabe. Seems Morrati is going to bleed them dry