Is Zlatan Ibrahimovic the 2nd best 'Striker' in the world ?

I know some people who don't include Messi and Ronaldo as strikers.

I include Messi & Ronaldo in the striker bracket, for me, if someone is their teams main goal threat, and plays centrally, then they are a 'striker', I know Ronaldo plays wide primarily, but lets just include him. Ofcourse, every player is different, and has their own 'style of play'. So I understand comparing them is 'hard'.

If you don't want to include Messi & Ronaldo as strikers, then good for you, my question to you would be, is he the best 'striker' in the world ?

For me, he is better than Ronaldo, Rooney, Benzema, Cavani, Gomez, Van Persie, Huntelaar, Falcao etc etc.

Primarily, due to his playmaking & hold up play. He is capable of some great through balls & link up play.

I know some people, who think Rooney & Van Persie are better. Which to me is madness, but too each their own.

He may not be as clinical as some of the other forwards, but he is good enough in front of goal, and offers much more than most strikers.


How highly do you rate him ? Which strikers are better ?

Tony Cruz says hi

The Messiah wrote:Tony Cruz says hi

If we're thinking of the same player, he's not even a striker or a winger and his name is spelt 'Toni Kroos', no? or is there some great striker out there called Tony Cruz that I'm completely oblivious to?

Who the hell is Tony Cruz?

And I think hes the most complete CF in the world

if youre including ronaldo then , cr7 > ibra easy .

the others including rvp vs ibra vs rooney vs gomez vs falcao are arguable

DRK wrote:Who the hell is Tony Cruz?

And I think hes the most complete CF in the world

I agree. He is an amazing player.

Messi is more of a striker than Ronaldo. Ronaldo plays as a winger most of the time.

Isnt it Kroos & he is CAM/CAM not a ST.

Idrozet embarrassing Bayern fans again

Tony Cruz

Even though he wont be playing at th etop level anymore Drogba is still right up there with the best in the business
Also I woundlt include CR as a striker, hes a winger, although personaly, i think CR could be a really good CF

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Lord Hades wrote:if youre including ronaldo then , cr7 > ibra easy .

the others including rvp vs ibra vs rooney vs gomez vs falcao are arguable

CR is just a goal-scorer.Ibra is more complete.

halamadrid2 wrote:Ibra plays best when he plays off a shoulder to a striker.... so in a way you can call him AM or SS

Ibra is alot better than Ronaldo, Ronaldo gets fed, Ibra feeds both his team-mates and himself

I agree, Ronaldo is ofcourse a great player, but Ibrahimovich, assists more. He creates more chances for his team mates.

He can also play as a target man, and hold up the ball until team mates arrive. And he can play some great passes, which Ronaldo can't.

I agree that his throughballs and build up play are good, but he scored only 23 open play goals this season, 35 overall 1/3 being penalties. Even in Italy Cavani (26) and Di Natale (24) scored more open play goals this season.

Ibra is so slow. i think he slows down his teams.

Messi shouldn't be excluded imo. He plays as the CF in a 4-3-3. Ronaldo however is a winger in a 4-2-3-1.

Also Ibra offers more than Ronaldo.

Ibra is the most complete striker in the world

jiopsi wrote:I agree that his throughballs and build up play are good, but he scored only 23 open play goals this season, 35 overall 1/3 being penalties. Even in Italy Cavani (26) and Di Natale (24) scored more open play goals this season.

Fair enough.

He does much more than score, though. Which is what makes him the 'best striker', in mine and others opinions.

Falcao for example, is a very clinical striker, amazing in the air, etc etc.

But he creates almost nothing for his teammates, isn't all that great at dribbling, etc, etc.

Gomez is much the same, a clinical finisher, but pretty unimpressive in every other facet of Football.

These players, rely on their teammates. If they're teammates aren't up too much, then neither are they.

Zlatan is vital in the build up play, for Sweden & Milan, most of their play goes through him. So if his finishing is off, he still contributes a lot. Unlike, a Gomez or Huntelaar.

This is why people like me, prefer him over a 'poacher'.

halamadrid2 wrote:RVP is a one season wonder, i have just noticed how crap he is, his first touch is worse than Khediras

No. He has actually had outstanding goal and assist per game ratios for many years now, except this year he wasn't injured. You can't write off someone who had a great season with the only evidence being that he has played poorly for 1.5/2 games recently.

Ronaldo has a great scoring record, especially since he joined Madrid.

But if you watched them in games were neither scores, and you didn't know their scoring records, most people would say Zlatan is the better player.

Zlatan is the better playmaker, target man, and I'd say he's the better dribbler.

Their international scoring records are.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic 79 apps. 32 goals.
Cristiano Ronaldo 92 apps. 32 goals.

Though Ronaldo does play out wide. And it's fair to say Zlatan would never score 60 goals in 55 games, as Ronaldo did this season at Real. But Zlatan would/does play better with lesser teammates, in my opinion.

In a hypothetical situation.

Put Ronaldo in Bolton Wanderers FC, and see how he does. And then Zlatan, for me, Zlatan would perform better. Ronaldo doesn't offer as much.

If you were making a 'dream team' of international superstars, it would be fair to prefer Ronaldo, but if you were a manager of a lesser team (mid table &/or relegation battlers). And had to pick one, for me it would be Zlatan by an absolute country mile.

Ibra had said in his book that Van Basten told him that he should not waste his energy at all in defending.But Van Gaal had told him that Van Basten is wrong and that he needs to help his team.He said that he listened to Van Bastne because he was a Legend and that he now runs less because he's getting older.Personally,Ibra is the best striker in the world if you dont include Messi and Ronaldo and In my opinion he isnt that far behind Ronaldo.The 2nd most technically skilled striker right now after Berbatov.

Just bought this as a case for my new iphone

well for me strikers are basically judged first on their goal tally and ronaldo is much ahead of ibra in that category, and sure ibra is more creative( that point isnt arguably) but he isnt as consistent in all competitions at club level as is ronaldo, and that really matters.. plus ronaldo is faster ,which is a very important aspect in football .. just my opinion though