I don't read that much into it. It looked like a reflex reaction to me. Yes it was thoughtless, but almost literally thoughtless.
That's what I saw too. He swatted out in reaction to the pain, careless that the dude was so much shorter that he actually slapped him upside the head. In no way am I forgiving it - it was so stupid. But I don't think Zlatan was quitting on the game and intentionally getting a red.
Not sure, it seems like Zlatan was playing like he was playing for a team that's lost several games in a row. Dumb red.
The instigator should have been red carded too "Michael Petrasso stood on the Swedish striker's foot in the 40th minute of the game, leading Ibrahimovic to lash out and hit him in the face." http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...himovic-sent-LA-Galaxy-slapping-opponent.html
I really did give the FO too much credit when I assumed our pursuit of Zlatan was all paper talk, on account of the fact he didn't fit our roster given our roster and recent signings. I was right in one respect: we didn't have a plan to accommodate him and I'm sure Kamara wasn't signed with his arrival in mind. However, I was wrong that the scenario would prevent the FO from getting him anyway. I watched the highlights of the San Jose game this weekend and dear lord, they were absolutely horrendous. More terrible defensive errors than a Ciani highlight reel. If we don't outperform and defeat them on Friday night, then I can't see this team turning things around.
It was an excellent point, but doesn't detract from how stupid Zlatan was. In fact, considering that the ref saw enough to give Petrasso a yellow card, then had Zlatan not slapped him, it would have almost certainly have been a penalty.
I didn't mean it as an excuse for Zlatan's behavior. OTOH, I'm not too broken up because I think the squad needs a break from the big guy.
'All the best players are there but Zlatan is not http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...lieves-Swedish-media-cost-World-Cup-spot.html
He can't afford this on his MLS salary. Actually, that probably doesn't even pay for the upkeep which could range up to $943K per year (10% of the purchase price).
Nothing like that would surprise me, but a lease back arrangement or occasional rental by some AEG affiliate during the MLS season would be even harder to trace. Who knows maybe AEG has yacht captain and chief engineer on staff. For that size boat their annual salaries would be around $180 to $200K.
For those of you who follow ManU, how much has Zlatan slowed since 2016/17? Has his work rate dropped significantly?
I'd say he's about the same player. He was pretty slow before the injury, I wouldn't say it's noticeably slowed him down. I didn't watch much of him at PSG so I'm not sure his year at Man Utd was the first real year of decline or a relatively poor French league covered up a bit of his natural decline.
He was very effective at United. One area where I've argued with some of the United fans over his production (yes, those people exist) is that he actually had pretty strong chance-creation stats. Had Martial and Rashford been on form, he would have had a healthy number of assists. The French league is the fifth strongest league in Europe. I wouldn't take his goal-scoring feats there lightly. I don't think Zlatan seems especially slow. I think he strolls around his area of play to conserve stamina.
I'm not trying argue whether Zlatan was effective at Man UTD. I agree with you on that front, but it was clear that he wasn't as mobile or had the legs/stamina that he used. He's a smart playing so it didn't really hurt his game, but I think Man UTD was going to sign Lukaku whether or not Zlatan was injured. PSG is also substantially better than any other team in France so he was playing inferior opposition the majority of the time. My biggest knock on Zlatan as a Galaxy player has been his on the field attitude in games we aren't playing well. We all know he's going to score goals, I think we just want him to have a positive influence on the players around him. When he's sulking around with a negative attitude it's only hurting the team.