You mean that Ibra's natural position is ST? It's the other way around, a striker is more of a Inzaghi/Trezeguet/Eto'o type of player. Ibras natural position is more as a deep-lying forward / target man.
And no, Ribery can not solve for Ibras dry spell. Only Ibra himself can do that. But what you are proposing would change our tactics that we have built our football on. And that won't happen just because we bought Ibra.
So what should we do? Buy a pure striker? And play Ibra as an supporting forward? And what would be Messi's role? What system/tactics would we use? It's not like we can play Ibra as a winger, he has to be in the middle as our target man and creating space for the rest of the team.
Anyway, there are a couple of players that we should look at for our left wing (and no, I don't think Pedro can handle that role as our first choice - even though he's excellent backup). But Ribery is not the right man for the job imo. I would like to see Robinho on our left wing next season, he just has to grow up and see a shrink. I also think Perotti will be great in a season or two.
I guess a more accurate terminology for me to use for Ibra wld've been SS instead of ST. But I don't think we're really disagreeing on that I/T/E wld be labeled as CF, not ST.
I am not proposing that we "change our tactics that we have built our football on." We did buy Ibra for a reason & we did play with a 4-1-2-1-2 during CLF & the Classico that preceded it; so it's not even revolutionary.
What I'm saying is that Ibra can score a plenty, but he lacks the pace, the workrate & the natural goalscoring ability of an Eto'o or a Villa for him to act as a pure CF. What sets him appart is his technical ability; but to actually put it to work you need to be given the freedom & the space. As the spearhead of our attack his main task becomes to latch on the last pass & bang a goal. That's not where his main strength lies & that puts him in a situation where he needs to create space for himself without being provided the freedom of movement which could only come if he leaves the center & doing so obviously leaves us with no one to capitalize on it in the middle.
So Ribery won't solve, but neither wld Robinho or any other LW. Granted, we wld be better off than what we are now, but the problem will still remain that whatever chances we may create, they will not be capitalized upon as efficiently, whatever technical ability Ibra may have will not put to its most optimal usage. A pacey goal scoring machine (Torres, Villa…) wld provide Ibra the latitude in which he can strive in, the ability to capitalize on the chances we create, break through when the other team decides to line their bus in front of the goal & provide Messi with even more space to create his magic. The loss of width will be compensated by the LB/RB, Messi moving in-and-out to the wings & Ibra + CF attempt to escape marking by leaving the center; Ibra wldn't necessarily act as a winger but more in the mold of Ronaldinho, using his technique to create space & feed the CF.
Which leads me to believe that it cld work.
