The Expert: How in-form Ibra evolved his game to United's gain

On Saturday, after Zlatan Ibrahimovic had laid out West Brom - and, in the process, Craig Dawson - Jose Mourinho also laid out one big reason why that performance level is especially impressive. “If you are an amazing central defender, you can play until you are older,” the Manchester United manager explained. “But a striker cannot hide.” 

And Ibrahimovic certainly hasn’t. He’s made himself one of the most prominent players in the Premier League this season, as emphasised by his appearance right at the top of the scoring charts. What is particularly admirable about that, too, is that it has happened despite a spell when the Swede scored just one goal in 11 games, and that came against Zorya. The game against Burnley, say, was especially frustrating. 

Ibrahimovic didn’t let that affect him in the slightest, though. His confidence was undimmed. He all too swiftly went from missing some of the chances he did against Burnley to scoring goals of the audacity he did against Everton. The strikes in the 2-0 win over West Brom also emphasised a forward simply on form. The first was the type of no-hesitation-I’ll-be-having-this header of a finisher without a single doubt in his game, the second supremely crafted out of close to nothing. 

Now, you might say that’s because Ibrahimovic isn’t a normal player, and has never exactly been one low on confidence. To be fair to him, and as Mourinho alluded to, what he’s doing right now genuinely is very rare. 

In the modern game, where there is such an emphasis on pace and energy and pressing, you don’t get too many strikers in their mid-30s playing so dominantly and scoring so prolifically in one of the top leagues, Aduriz of Athletic Club another less-publicised example. Look at it this way: at 35, Ibrahimovic is the oldest player to have scored 11 goals in a Premier League season since 37-year-old Les Ferdinand scored 12 in the 2003/04 campaign, and he’s done it by December. 

Some might claim, of course, that Ibrahimovic has that extra energy because he’s had it relatively easy the last few years. There is a fair argument that he has spent the majority of the last decade at the best and wealthiest teams in leagues where they had huge advantages, so hasn’t had to truly and regularly push his talents in the way he might have had he gone elsewhere. In fact, it’s possible that a recovering United right now is his biggest challenge in the last decade beyond the 2009-12 period at Barcelona and Milan. 

Whatever the actual truth, he has so far risen to that challenge brilliantly and literally. With 3.1 aerial challenges won per game, that is Ibrahimovic’s highest return in all the time WhoScored has been collating figures. That reflects how Mourinho has used his star in a different way. 

To strip it down, you could say the Portuguese has made him his classic Didier Drogba-style target man, but there’s been a bit more to it than that. He has been much more Drogba of the 2006/07 season, for example, than Drogba in the 2004/05 campaign. 

That is shown by how Ibrahimovic has played more key passes at United - at three per game - than anywhere else in his career. The only season any way close - with 2.7 - was actually Milan in the 2011/12 season. He’s also making more interceptions in the league, at 0.6 per game, than at any point since Barcelona in the 2009/10 season. 

There can be little doubt about it. Even beyond his goalscoring, his general play has been excellent, and that was stood out on his brief drought. Mourinho himself said it: “He was important to us even in the period he was not scoring goals.” 

At the same time, there is also a sense that he has gradually developed a much better understanding with the rest of the United attackers. There was a spell, even before that drought, when it seemed he was slowing down the side that bit too much. It was especially - and predictably - pronounced when he was paired with Wayne Rooney, but that has started to change too. 

There’s just a more natural movement to it all. It’s all calibrated much better. Ibrahimovic is the brain in the United attack, as well as - as Dawson found out - the brawn. And he’s certainly bringing the goals. In doing so, he has banished all doubt. He and Mourinho deserve great respect for this move.