Zlatan Ibrahimovic had the worst 45 minutes of his career in the first-half against Manchester City, claims Jamie Carragher.
The Manchester United striker was sluggish in a half devoid of quality during the EFL Cup derby on Wednesday night.
Swedish star Ibrahimovic was a surprise starter for United when manager Jose Mourinho was widely expected to rotate his starting XI.
He struggled to retain possession when the ball was fed into him and over hit a pass intended for Marcus Rashford as United looked to muster up a rare chance.
But he silenced his doubters at the start of the second half when he laid up Juan Mata to give United the lead.
Sky Sports pundit Carragher says that he cannot remember a worse showing in Ibrahimovic’s whole career than that in the opening 45 minutes.
“I don’t think Zlatan Ibrahimovic has probably had a worse 45 minutes than that in his career,” said Carragher.
“He’s getting wound up by them [City]. Jose Mourinho has been getting a lot of stick in the last few weeks, the manager always does, but we’re talking about a fella last season who got 50 goals.”
Carragher was also disappointed with Paul Pogba’s performance in the centre of midfield.
The £89million star was largely anonymous in the middle of the park against a central City pairing that included a winger in Nolito and a youngster only making his second start for the club in Aleix Garcia.
“Pogba the most expensive player in the world,” he said. “If you’ve cost that much money you’ve got to decide big game and do things in the big games.
“It’s non-existent and they’re not playing Man City at home… they’re playing Man City reserves. Let’s be honest about it.
“The game’s there for Manchester United to win and those two players have been non-existent in these last few weeks and they’ve got to produce a far lot more.”
Ibrahimovic and Pogba appeared to answer Carragher’s criticisms after the break, however, as the Swede played in Pogba for the game’s best chance, only for goalkeeper Willy Caballero to palm the ball onto the post.
And it was to be Ibrahimovic to play in Mata to put United ahead on the 54th minute.
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