Comments on: Ibrahimovic: The Misunderstood Performer

By: dizzies

dizzies — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 22:42:20 +0000

Pep should do his magic (I mean creativity) to change Ibra's role in the team, unlike what he did with Inter. He shoud be able to score as many as Messi to help Barca win the next sixtuples. Barca 4evr.

By: djoko

djoko — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 20:46:55 +0000

everyone should understand that that Ibras power comes with two touches, to catch the ball and shoot, nothing else, and he is a master in that.

By: The Much Needed Experiments and “Results” | totalBarça

The Much Needed Experiments and “Results” | totalBarça — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 23:50:03 +0000

[...] good reason. The difference between the two types of football I described in my previous article : “Ibrahimovic : The misunderstood performer” is a personal way of how to categorize the world’s great football managers. With all [...]

By: gerald

gerald — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 21:04:09 +0000

ibra is a striker and i want him to play all the rest of the matches

By: arip

arip — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 05:01:31 +0000

yeah.. IbraCadabra!!! i think Pep do some experiment now.. Ibra play well in early season with set of player with him at the forward position. Suddenly Pep change Ibra As alone striker, so the defender busy to marking him nad give space to other mate scoring like Messi, Jeffren, Pedro etc… Ibra just a fisher. I think Pep will change it back soon…

So i hope Ibra will play all the next game…i waiting for his top form…

Forza Ibra!

watch thunder shot from ibra! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFyWbL5uXy8

terima kasih.

By: BarcaIbraMessi

BarcaIbraMessi — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 22:27:42 +0000

Ibra is my favourite player and yes he gets to take alot of shit from people wich is ridicoulus to blame all on ONE player! If one player could make a hole team go bad well then the team isnt that good.And we know barca is the best! But why care about people putting him down,its just that the think its easy to blame someone that has had a ruff time lately.Today he scored against Osasuna and he looks better then for a long time! he is back!

And I agree that it would suit him better to be a attacker at the midfield cause in inter he scored alot more goals outside the box,and those goals were to die for!!!!!!!

IBRACADABRAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By: Leon

Leon — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 20:57:35 +0000

Absolutely wonderful what you just wrote. I can see that you are a real barca fan and have been watching games for the past 5 year at least.
I totally agree with what you wrote.
Let's hope Pep's will have enough honor to see his mistake and correct them while it's not too late., otherwise we will just see how His ego will messed up Barca

By: Lessons from the Ibrahimovic-Eto’o comparison | totalBarça

Lessons from the Ibrahimovic-Eto’o comparison | totalBarça — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:48:21 +0000

[...] football” or Pep-ball system that raked in the hardware last season. Indeed, the only part of Rakun’s piece that I completely agree with is the notion that Pep deserves much of the blame for failing to put [...]

By: Roma

Roma — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 05:52:17 +0000

I have enjoyed reading this post. It 's well educated analysis in football for a change. The way I see it like this;
1- Barca players were cautious at first with Ibra joining the team, then it seems like they discovered that he is a team player and gives plenty of assist. They started to work with him.
2- Messi form was terrible just before receiving so many awards at the end of the 2009. Suddenly he became unstoppable but in a very selfish way. It seems that he wants more awards. That lead to no passing to team mates even if they are wide open.
3- When Ibra is been required to play in a way that is not suitable for him, he follow the coach's instruction to prove a point. Even if it means looking like a flop, Ibra is trying to prove to the coach that changes must be done to make him more involved in the game.

By: Kieran Sobels

Kieran Sobels — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:15:51 +0000

I think it is very correct what he is saying about tactics. We are really trying to outdo the opposition in this department far too much. We have a better team and I think we know that when we play well, we will win. Perhaps against big teams, some tweaks need to be made to our strategy, but on the whole, the conventional 4-3-3 works doesn't it? I understand the problems are much deeper than all of us could perceive, and we are not football managers but I think a lot of those things pointed out should be tried again.

1) Messi playing on the right and cutting in. Allowing him to run at players in greater space rather than restricted areas.
2) Ibra bringing the ball from midfield when needed and linking up with the team more like he is capable of.
3) Ibra switching out to the left and allowing the wingers to come inside him.
4) Iniesta playing more of a free role around the middle of the park, rather than being stuck so far up on the left corner of the box.
5) Xavi being able to direct play in the final third rather than feeding the ball for Messi to provide the spark every time.
6) When the fullbacks overlap, Ibra acting as the reference point he was brought in to be, using his height to head the ball.

Perhaps it is basic, but I'd like to go back to basics again, and then from there see what needs to be altered.

May I add two more reasons to this list:

1) Thierry Henry has lost his form.

Henry at top form last year was a perfect foil for the other attackers. Despite being a conventional striker, he pulled himself over very far left, and with it he pulled often 1-3 men with him. This allowed Messi more space on the other side, as well as the likes of Xavi and Iniesta to get on the ball with a bit of space once the ball had been recycled into the middle. This stretching of play was vital as Barca's gameplan at its best does the following: pulls the other team so far out of shape until there are notable holes to attack. This is why patience is so important in the Barca game, and why Xavi and Iniesta are so important in attacking those holes once they appear.

2) Yaya Toure has lost his form.

Whether due to Pep's inclination to play Busquets or simply he has lost it, Toure has lost his confidence and commanding presence in the centre. He was the unheralded hero last year. Ahead of our back 4, we only ever had 1 player doing heavy defensive work: Yaya. The others pressed for sure, but Yaya was the key to breaking up opposing attacks. Without Yaya's commanding presence, we suddenly need two players to play more defensive roles. Luckily for us Keita is also a natural goalsneak, so earlier in the season, we got by every now and again due to his goals. However, our general attack was hindered by having to play 2 defensive minded mids in Sergio and Keita. Now, something even worse I have noted recently, since Keita's injury, is that we either play Yaya with Sergio or Xavi with the one of the other 2. In this formation Xavi is dropping deeper than usual, back to his deep-lying midfield role. He plays it well, but is not as effective and does not create goal chances here.

For example in the last game we lined up like so:

x x
x x
Xavi Yaya
Pedro Messi Iniesta
Ibrahimovic

This certainly takes out a number of those points I believed to be key to Barca's success last year, and points this fellow has pointed out.
1)Xavi is not able to link up with Iniesta.
2) There is no width, Pedro is an inside forward, not a winger, and Iniesta is a midfield not a winger. Neither stretch the play.
3) All the pressure is on Messi to create, and the obvious reaction by the opposition is to place 2-3 players on him constantly. Thus he has no space and cannot make sweeping runs cutting in from the wing.
4) Xavi is far too deep, and whilst he can direct play to an extent, he is not creating chances around the box and finds it hard to make direct balls to the striker.
5) Ibra is isolated up front, his position is relatively stagnant, with a player already in behind and two players on his sides not pulling wide.

I hope I've added something to this discussion, I'm sorry its a bit disjointed. I think above all, it looks grim for us doesn't it and it appears we have problems that could be very hard to rectify. One thing is for sure, we shouldn't blame one player.

By: GueRakun

GueRakun — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:57:09 +0000

Soud, I think it is a term that is popularized by none other than Jose Mourinho himself. To simplify, it means putting more than 7 people inside the penalty box, and will then hardens the opposition to score. The strategy are improving as we speak and hybridized with other strategies, but I think the starting idea is putting as many people in the penalty box as possible. It's like putting a bus in front of the goal. Hence the name.

By: Anonymous_69

Anonymous_69 — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:51:19 +0000

I still believe that because Jeffren is left footed and because we don't have any up and coming LB's, we can convert Jeffren to LB. For all we know, he can end up being the next big thing at LB!

By: Jassim

Jassim — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:42:42 +0000

People fo rget the situation in which Ibra came in. Eto'o was refusing to renew his contract and were running out of time, which only meant that we had to find a replacement!

I persinally beleive its Zlatan's responsiblity to get something out of himself. He lacks swift movement in the box and cohesion with Xavi, Messi and Andres.

But I stll beleive in him.

Great post!

By: kam

kam — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:36:15 +0000

Let of not forget that Zlatan is a human being. He has come from a place with a ruff backgrund! People have pointed fingers at him even before he was a fotball player and are still pointing fingers at him. Despite all of this Ibra has maneged to become a world class player.

Some times people think that Ibrahimovic is the only player on the field but that's wrong we got 10 other players to, Ibra can not be blamed for evrything!!

Let's take a look at Messi, The best player in the world!! How come that he cant pass to ibra ? i have seen every Barca match when ibra has been playing. He has made him free from the 2-5 defenders that have marked him. And waited for the pass from Messi, but he never gets the passes. Because Messi wants to dribble the hole team by him self!! and walk in to the goal with the ball. And the times that messi have given the passes to Ibra its to late!!! he cant do shit with it!!!

Messi is still the best player in the world!! but give some passes to ibra and i guarantee that Barcelona will win evry game by more then 3 goals!

So plz stop pointing your fingers on Ibra!! we got 10 other players to that you can point your fingers at!

By: Swede

Swede — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:31:40 +0000

Patience!!
Ibra, Pep and the team will perform when necessary……….
Very good artical and all true. It feels like they have a slight advantage by trying to play a game consistanly eventhough not perfoming on their highest capacity. Better to do this than playing an easyread game all the time without changes. Maybe they can surprise by changing their style a little when necessary or maybe suddenly all things work out for them with their current play.
However they should perform better. Ibra position in the box creates so much spaces for the other players on the wings by having 5-6 defenders on his back….