LA Galaxy: Zlatan Ibrahimovic refocuses club on key strength
By Josh Sippie
The LA Galaxy have finally done it. They’ve finally signed Zlatan Ibrahimovic after years of speculation. It couldn’t be more apt.
Major League Soccer is absolutely not the “retirement league” it was once dispelled as. It’s no longer a league that loads up on over-the-hill superstars that aren’t going to be their same self. The last of that really faded with Andrea Pirlo, and even then, he was not a regular with New York City FC anymore. MLS is just different now. And so is the LA Galaxy, despite their recent signing.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic changes nothing. He isn’t coming here to loaf around and have fun. If he is, he came to the wrong league, and Zlatan is too intelligent for that.
With the LA Galaxy, Zlatan will find himself confronted with physicality and competition from top to bottom. he will find players that aren’t afraid to play the rough and tumble.
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That’s how Zlatan is though. He is a lion-hearted man that does not know the word timid. That alone excludes him from the “he’s coming here to retire” argument. he just isn’t. He’s coming here for a new challenge.
Maybe his level of play has sunk a little and he now finds MLS as his best recourse, but that is no slight on him or the league. There is still plenty to be found in both.
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It’s not in the star-power of the signing that the LA Galaxy should face their questioning. Not at all. It’s in the strategic nature of it all.
Zlatan is a mammoth of a player, a tank in the box, unflappable in challenges and unafraid to boldly stick his head to every ball he possibly can. That is his strength, as a space occupier, a hulking presence.
Sure, there are other faculties at his disposal, but that’s the primary one.
The LA Galaxy will find that, if they are to maximize the Swedish behemoth, they will need to change the way they have been attacking thus far into the year. Thus far into the year, they have attempted all of four crosses in two matches.
Last year, granted, a terrible year, they were top in the league in crossing efficiency and the year before that, they were top five in terms of cross accuracy in MLS.
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That is what Zlatan needs. Especially in his declined status. He needs premium service. Or even just above average service, I mean, he is Zlatan. This need can help recenter the Galaxy on a clear strength. And they’ll be feeding one of the best in the business this time around.