Manchester United have indeed turned their season around. After a miserable October that saw the Red Devils with their worst ever Premier League points accumulation after the first 11 games, United righted the ship. Manager Jose Mourinho got off to a slower start than Louis van Gaal, whose era will likely be remembered for most mediocrity.
Van Gaal had a worse start than David Moyes, whose regime will certainly be recalled as disastrous. Lead by the strength of leading score striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, United are now undefeated in their last 11 Premier League games and their last 17 across all competitions.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has a good time lambasting his critics and detractors, and doing so in a very colorful manner. Many believed that Ibrahimovic couldn’t translate his dominance from Ligue 1 to England, and his age was cited was the main reason for that.
However, 1987 Ballon d’Or winner Ruud Gullit sees Ibra as the main catalyst for United’s incredible turnaround, and a major reason Mourinho is succeeding where LVG and Moyes could not.
“Sir Alex Ferguson’s legacy was immense,” Gullit said.
“It was too big for his first two successors, David Moyes and Louis van Gaal. They stumbled over that legacy and crashed.”
“And Jose Mourinho has found it just as tough to bring Man United back to the same level as the Ferguson era.”
“But results have improved over the last few weeks — and the man who is responsible for that is Ibrahimovic. He plays a massive role. He takes responsibility and carries the team. On top of that he is vital with his goals and his dominating presence.”
Gullit also believes that Zlatan could be the perfect role model for Paul Pogba, who he sees as being in danger of mistakes some of the similar mistakes that Memphis Depay made.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, Bold and the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication, appears regularly as a guest on CGTN America, WGN CLTV News and KOZN 1620 The Zone.
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