Ibrahimovic’s Misses Are Adding Up For Manchester United

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has escaped much of the criticism at Manchester United but the misses are now totting up…

Manchester United's wretched defending against Chelsea was the biggest factor in their 4-0 defeat on Sunday, but it isn't the only reason for concern for Jose Mourinho.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has now gone more than eight hours without a Premier League goal, his worst sequence without a league goal in a decade.

In fact, his only goal in his last eight games in all competitions came against Zorya Luhansk in the Europa League.

Ibrahimovic is getting chances - he has had more shots (45) than any other Premier League player this season - but he's failed to score with his last 30 attempts.

Only three other players have had 30 shots and none of them have scored fewer than Ibrahimovic. In comparison, Premier League top scorer Diego Costa has seven goals from only 27 shots.

The 35-year-old cannot even point to the quality of his opportunities. According to Opta, he has missed six of his seven big chances this season.

Opta defines a big chance as one that a player might reasonably be expected to score, but of the 17 players to have had four or more of them Ibrahimovic has the worst conversion rate.

Should Manchester United supporters be encouraged that their centre forward is getting such opportunities or alarmed that he's missing them?

Here, we highlight some of Ibrahimovic's best chances that have been squandered…

Manchester City

United were dominated in the early stages of the Manchester derby but managed to get back into it thanks to Ibrahimovic's expertly struck effort as he capitalised on Claudio Bravo's mistake. But there were opportunities to equalise in the moments that followed.

Ibrahimovic headed straight at Bravo from close range on the stroke of half-time and when the goalkeeper failed to deal with a situation in stoppage time, Ibrahimovic only had to beat the man on the line but scuffed his shot badly. City survived the wobble to claim the three points.

Watford

Perhaps United's most surprising defeat under Mourinho came at Vicarage Road where they went down 3-1 to Watford, losing for the third consecutive game in a row. But Ibrahimovic had the chance to give his side some momentum with the score goalless in the first half.

Rashford's low cross from the right found its way to the striker, but instead of turning the ball into the net with his left foot he could only find the side-netting. Watford took the lead 13 minutes later so this was another wasted chance that proved costly.

Stoke

United looked set for a straightforward afternoon at home to a Stoke side that had taken just two points from their first six games of the season, especially when Ibrahimovic found himself one-on-one with Lee Grant inside three minutes.

However, Ibrahimovic aimed for the near post with the space at the far corner gaping and Grant saved well before pouncing on the rebound. Anthony Martial eventually gave United the lead but Joe Allen's late equaliser meant it was two points dropped.

Liverpool

Mourinho was accused of being overly defensive away to Liverpool and was aggrieved enough about that characterisation to contest the possession statistics in his post-match press conference. He could also point to the fact that Ibrahimovic had the best chance.

The striker wildly misdirected his header from close range early in the second half after good work by Paul Pogba on the right and United never got so close to scoring again. "Ibrahimovic's header was a big moment," Gary Neville told Sky Sports.

Chelsea

Conceding a goal inside the first minute of what turned out to be a 4-0 defeat suggests United had little hope of getting a result, but Ibrahimovic did get the chance to come up with an equaliser inside the first 10 minutes of the game.

Having pulled onto the far post and easily out-jumped marker Cesar Azpilicueta, Ibrahimovic could only head over the bar. Gary Cahill put Chelsea two up soon after and any lingering belief among United's players ebbed away after the break.

Credit: Skysports.com