That was a very good post, Ben, I wouldn't say at all that Ibra underperformed at Barcelona. He was the key man for the team in the first 10 matches of the season (he was more deciding than Messi in that period, mind you).
But the problem arose when Messi became fit and started to shine as usual. Ibra couldn't stand Messi being the main actor (because sometimes it meant him going to the wing, which is obviously not his position) and he ended up destroying all of his reputation and his career here at Barcelona when he faced Pep in the wrong way. As Ben says, Ibra performed like a cunt out of the pitch, but inside he did quite well and his ratio of goals and assists was splendid.
In fact, the league title was decided by the direct confrontations between Madrid and Barcelona. Barcleona won 1-0 at the Camp Nou... with an Ibra goal when Barcelona was playing with 10 men. Ibra underachieved against Inter at CL, but the whole team did and the ref and luck didn't help much.
I think Ibra has won the last 10 domestic titles he has participated in combining Eredivisie, Scudetto and La Liga! Who can say this? He's clearly a great player for season trophies!
Part of the problem of him not being tagged world class (or whatever name you want to put to the fan-o-meter) is that he's very limited at associating with people. He needs the team to play for him in a very specific way, so it's hard to find a great team that plays as a team and has Ibra in it. His greatness makes him save his team a lot of times, but also limits him to domestic glory with specific teams because he doesn't fit into team dynamics very much.
For example, if Milan wanted to add 3 or 4 great players to the team, there are a lot of probabilities that Ibra would clash with them. This prevented him of having more success at Barcelona (he won the League and had a CL semifinal in which luck was against Barcelona anyway, so he WAS actually succesful), but stats tell taht his performance was better than Pedro, Henry, Villa, Bojan or whoever that has played upfront in the last 3 years except Etoo and Messi.
PS: He's a cunt, though.
But the problem arose when Messi became fit and started to shine as usual. Ibra couldn't stand Messi being the main actor (because sometimes it meant him going to the wing, which is obviously not his position) and he ended up destroying all of his reputation and his career here at Barcelona when he faced Pep in the wrong way. As Ben says, Ibra performed like a cunt out of the pitch, but inside he did quite well and his ratio of goals and assists was splendid.
In fact, the league title was decided by the direct confrontations between Madrid and Barcelona. Barcleona won 1-0 at the Camp Nou... with an Ibra goal when Barcelona was playing with 10 men. Ibra underachieved against Inter at CL, but the whole team did and the ref and luck didn't help much.
I think Ibra has won the last 10 domestic titles he has participated in combining Eredivisie, Scudetto and La Liga! Who can say this? He's clearly a great player for season trophies!
Part of the problem of him not being tagged world class (or whatever name you want to put to the fan-o-meter) is that he's very limited at associating with people. He needs the team to play for him in a very specific way, so it's hard to find a great team that plays as a team and has Ibra in it. His greatness makes him save his team a lot of times, but also limits him to domestic glory with specific teams because he doesn't fit into team dynamics very much.
For example, if Milan wanted to add 3 or 4 great players to the team, there are a lot of probabilities that Ibra would clash with them. This prevented him of having more success at Barcelona (he won the League and had a CL semifinal in which luck was against Barcelona anyway, so he WAS actually succesful), but stats tell taht his performance was better than Pedro, Henry, Villa, Bojan or whoever that has played upfront in the last 3 years except Etoo and Messi.
PS: He's a cunt, though.
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Remember that?! lol Classic Zlatan! Years ago!
. i absolutely can't stand him and (like i said in that conversation we had years ago) i actually enjoy the fact that he's often underestimated by epl followers (and i also remember Sina felt the same about him).
