I'd put alot of that down to the teams he has had, Barcelona is the first attacking force he has played in, Inter Milan used to line up like this from MF forward:
--Zanetti--Cambiasso---Muntari---
----------------Stankovic------------
---------Balotelli-----Ibra-----------
Stankovic in there was the only player who could create, and even he is a limited player, put them in the CL against teams who are technically superior and Ibra is starved of everything, forced to come take the ball from 40 yards out and try miracles from there.
The lazy argument was valid 2-3 years ago, at Juve he was lazy and moody, seems like he's realised that's not good enough if he wants to be considered great so he works a little harder and his attitude has improved.
I'll judge him based on this year, capable of incredible things but he's never done it on a consistent basis, IMO thats down to a lack of support in previous squads, there is certainly enough from Xavi & co.