But it is a measure of the belief and confidence Ronald Koeman has in his striker Romelu Lukaku that the Toffees boss believes he can do just that at Old Trafford tomorrow.
With the first part of that equation – an insipid display against Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday – in the bag, it is safe to say he has the bulk of the work to do. Yet Koeman’s faith is unshakeable, and he believes United and Ibrahimovic could be in for a shock.
“Rom knows by himself when it’s good and when it isn’t good and last Saturday he was not performing what he can do, and what the team needs,” he said.
“It was difficult in that he was travelling back form Russia at 5am in the morning [on Wednesday last week], and he is a human being and a player. So I don’t criticise him, and if I need to criticise I will do it one against one.
“But there could be no better stage to perform. It is a great stadium to show your quality. He is really honest about his performances and while as a striker you need support and you need assistance, his work rate and his freshness was not 100 per cent.”
Lukaku appears to have engineered a niche between a rock and a hard place this season after signalling his intent to move on from Everton when refusing the offer of an improved and extended contract last month.
When he plays well against top sides he is turning it on by way of audition – Manchester United being just one of the clubs running the rule over him – and when he plays well against lesser sides he is a flat-track bully.
Yet the reality is that his record stacks up fairly evenly against all manner of opposition with 12 of his 64 league goals (and three out of 21 this campaign) in the last four seasons coming against the recognised top-six sides.
Koeman, who will be without former United midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin again tonight, has conceded Lukaku’s contract stand-off is bound to attract adverse publicity. But he questioned yesterday why his record as a goalscorer should come under similar scrutiny.
“Rom is the top scorer in the league,” said the Everton boss. “Why we need to criticise him – he’s a human boy, not always a 10, but he’s working hard, he’s a young boy.”
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At the other end of the career spectrum sits Ibrahimovic, and Koeman is well placed to know exactly what will be coming Everton’s way tonight having managed the Swede at Ajax in his first managerial job between 2001 and 2004.
The pair remain friends and have seen each other socially “three or four times in the last four to five months” now they are both based in the north-west, and Koeman cannot keep the smile from his face when their time together in Amsterdam is brought up.
“He is still one of the best and I still admire the boy, I know him really well, and he is still showing really well at his age being still so important for the team and scoring goals, showing he’s still one of the best.
“I have a great respect for him and, mentally, he’s one of the strongest players what I know.
“When I managed him, he was young and sometimes also difficult! But that is normal. I’m also better now to handle for a coach than when I was 19.
“And he was funny but sometimes difficult because when I was at Ajax we had a lot of young players at that time – [Wesley] Schneider, [Rafael] Van der Vaart, [Nigel] De Jong, [Jonny] Heitinga, Mido, Zlatan. We had really big talents at that time, but all were 19, driving Porsches, driving Ferraris!
“It was good it was a nice period, it was good for me as a young coach at that time, but if you ask Zlatan about those times he knows perfectly how he was when he was at 19 and how he is now.
“It is safe to say we had some really strong talks!”
Comparing Lukaku to Ibrahimovic is not a process Koeman is keen to be drawn on but he insisted they have the same mental strength and belief.
“You cannot compare a 23-year-old boy [Lukaku] with Zlatan now. Zlatan has made those steps through his whole career, but in the mental way I don’t have any doubt about Rom in that case [being as strong].”