Ruud Van Nistelrooy

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Has he become the manager of PSV senior team? Or is it the U19s?
 

Stadjer

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I think he became youth coach at PSV like van Bommel and Cocu before him. The idea is that when van Bommel leaves PSV that Ruud will take over and becomes manager of PSV.
 

Miloszz11

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Van Nistelrooy was my favourite player growing up, but I only could watch selected CL games as I didn't have cable for Premiership. And regarding this I have a question. How clinical was he in terms to scored chanced vs missed ones? Was he better than Rooney, RVP? It's always bugging me as I can't really watch whole past games and I'm curious.
 

2cents

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Van Nistelrooy was my favourite player growing up, but I only could watch selected CL games as I didn't have cable for Premiership. And regarding this I have a question. How clinical was he in terms to scored chanced vs missed ones? Was he better than Rooney, RVP? It's always bugging me as I can't really watch whole past games and I'm curious.
More clinical then both Rooney and RVP I think. I don't remember a United forward more clinical than Ruud.
 

scholesyboy18

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Van Nistelrooy was my favourite player growing up, but I only could watch selected CL games as I didn't have cable for Premiership. And regarding this I have a question. How clinical was he in terms to scored chanced vs missed ones? Was he better than Rooney, RVP? It's always bugging me as I can't really watch whole past games and I'm curious.
There are hardly any player who had a better presence of mind and calmness that Van Nistelrooy had inside the box. Always takes a nice touch , sends the defender the other way and taps in. What a finisher, never seen anyone like him.
 

arthurka

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More clinical then both Rooney and RVP I think. I don't remember a United forward more clinical than Ruud.
I fully agree, cant remember a Utd striker more clinical since I started following Utd in '83. Absolute beast .
 

Utdstar01

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Played largely in a transitional period for us apart from that 02/03 season. Deserved a lot more titles than he gained with us.
 

El Zoido

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Wonderful player, just knew how to score. Knew how to position himself to make an easy goal. I always found it quite sad how it ended with us, all that stuff about rifts with Ronaldo, but Fergie of course did right by us and that’s how things were.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Van Nistelrooy was my favourite player growing up, but I only could watch selected CL games as I didn't have cable for Premiership. And regarding this I have a question. How clinical was he in terms to scored chanced vs missed ones? Was he better than Rooney, RVP? It's always bugging me as I can't really watch whole past games and I'm curious.
Miles better. I'm sure he missed his fair share of chances but mostly even those tested the keeper. Simple put, Ruud was the most clinical penalty box footballer I've seen, let alone United striker. He made finishing look piss easy. A complete natural at it.
 

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One of the clips in the Fergie thread he mentions there was a player once who said Rooney and Ronaldo weren't good enough and he didn't want to wait around until they were. Ruud?
 

Bwuk

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One of the clips in the Fergie thread he mentions there was a player once who said Rooney and Ronaldo weren't good enough and he didn't want to wait around until they were. Ruud?
Yep
 

anant

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I fully agree, cant remember a Utd striker more clinical since I started following Utd in '83. Absolute beast .
I can't remember any striker more clinical than him, although I started following in around 2003
 

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One of the clips in the Fergie thread he mentions there was a player once who said Rooney and Ronaldo weren't good enough and he didn't want to wait around until they were. Ruud?

I would say so,I remember him saying once when linked with Real Madrid that he was happy at Utd and not every player wants to play for Real .

Once he had competition for his place however that seemed to change .

Difficult one Ruud was obviously a great striker but we did base our game around him too much and teams caught on if they stopped him they stopped us .

That was the main reason we didn't win as much as we should with him and when he left there is no doubt we were a lot harder to stop by oppositions as our front three were all capable of switching positions and we played a lot quicker .
 

Carl

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Van Nistelrooy was my favourite player growing up, but I only could watch selected CL games as I didn't have cable for Premiership. And regarding this I have a question. How clinical was he in terms to scored chanced vs missed ones? Was he better than Rooney, RVP? It's always bugging me as I can't really watch whole past games and I'm curious.
He's probably the most clinical striker I've ever seen, never mind just at United.

Top 3 definitely.
 
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Van Nistelrooy was my favourite player growing up, but I only could watch selected CL games as I didn't have cable for Premiership. And regarding this I have a question. How clinical was he in terms to scored chanced vs missed ones? Was he better than Rooney, RVP? It's always bugging me as I can't really watch whole past games and I'm curious.
Yeah, a lot better in that category, though they were better than Ruud in some areas too. Different players, Ruud was a pure finisher and one of the best I've seen.... gets in my AT XI.
 

fergies coat

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I used to think Andy Cole was a great striker for us. (Which he was) I was gutted when Ruud replaced him, but Ruud was different class he was a phenomenal finisher, best I’ve seen. I can’t believe we sold for only 10 million. Real Madrid with another bargain off us.

If Harry Kane is worth £150 million imagine how much a peak Van nistlerooy would go for in today’s market. He was better than Kane.
 

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Been watching his highlights... great great striker. Funnily enough the sides that he played in during his peak were probably my favourite United teams - that and the early to mid United sides with a peak Robbo. But yeah he was fantastic... Well, so were the other players. And er...Fergie too. Christ I'm terrifed of sounding like Liverpool fan in a few more seasons. La.
 

99withaflake

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Only United striker I've seen who can compare to Ruud's ruthlessness was Solskjaer, but of course didn't have as good an all round game.

Would be interested to see a comparison of their conversions rates, minutes per goal etc.
 

Class of 63

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Only United striker I've seen who can compare to Ruud's ruthlessness was Solskjaer, but of course didn't have as good an all round game.

Would be interested to see a comparison of their conversions rates, minutes per goal etc.
I'd argue Solskjaer who could play anywhere across the front-line was a far superior footballer to RvN
 

99withaflake

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I'd argue Solskjaer who could play anywhere across the front-line was a far superior footballer to RvN
That's fair enough. As a central striker, I'd prefer Ruud. Great finishing and in my opinion better at holding the ball up than Ole. Although he wasn't known for speed, he'd often find a way to take it past players too.

Old could play in more positions though, agree with you there, and played a bit on the right if I remember correctly?
 

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In his physical prime 2001-2003 he was the best striker I have seen at the club. Was world class

Glad we sold him when we did. Still a great finisher but he lost a yard of pace, we played better counter attacking football without him in the team and his attitude began to stink up the place.

Also mustn't forget he looked for a way out in 2004 by getting his agent to speak to Barcelona and AC Milan officials
 

Striker10

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In his physical prime 2001-2003 he was the best striker I have seen at the club. Was world class

Glad we sold him when we did. Still a great finisher but he lost a yard of pace, we played better counter attacking football without him in the team and his attitude began to stink up the place.

Also mustn't forget he looked for a way out in 2004 by getting his agent to speak to Barcelona and AC Milan officials
Yeah but I think selling Beckham (for me) unsettled Ruud. I think things could have been a lot different.
 

Red_Ramirez

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Yeah but I think selling Beckham (for me) unsettled Ruud. I think things could have been a lot different.
Giving it the incredible sulk because Fergie sold Becks was it still not on. Speaking to Barcelona to try and worm his way out behind our backs was not on...

Ruud was one of our figureheads of the team around that time, an important player, the fans loved him......no wonder Fergie didnt give him the captain's armband during his whole time at the club
 

Bojan11

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Giving it the incredible sulk because Fergie sold Becks was it still not on. Speaking to Barcelona to try and worm his way out behind our backs was not on...

Ruud was one of our figureheads of the team around that time, an important player, the fans loved him......no wonder Fergie didnt give him the captain's armband during his whole time at the club
What does that mean? We had Keane for most of his time at the club. Then he was behind Neville, Rio and Giggs.
 

Hughie77

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Van Nistelrooy was my favourite player growing up, but I only could watch selected CL games as I didn't have cable for Premiership. And regarding this I have a question. How clinical was he in terms to scored chanced vs missed ones? Was he better than Rooney, RVP? It's always bugging me as I can't really watch whole past games and I'm curious.
He took his chances regular. I used to bet on first goal scorer and won more than lost, with him. Great goalscorer.hold up player strong and he wasn't slow iether. Wouldn't mind a player like him now?
 

Devil77

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It is somewhat depressing to watch those highlight videos. Peak Rooney, Ronaldo, RVN, Scholes, Giggs, Keane, Ferdinand and obviously Sir Alex on the sidelines. How the mighty have fallen. :nono:
 
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Ruud had all the attributes you would want from your leading line forward and he will rightly go down as one of our best ever players,let alone forwards.

With regards to his last couple of seasons, SAF moved him on at the perfect time, though granted Ruud's breakdown with management,similar to Roy Keane a season earlier, likely put that process into action a season early.

I think Ruud's departure was a wake up call from SAF that ,whatever your stasis in the squad you perceived to be secured, he was still capable of pulling you out of that comfort zone if you step out of line,which Ruud by reports did.The obvious being in the run up to the cup final with Ruud being benched by a inform Saha,who's own style of play was gradually getting the best out of the two young forwards Rooney and Ronaldo.

It was a major decision from SAF in selling Ruud to Real Madrid.United were getting more and more pressured from the Media and fans alike with regards to the clubs direction.Chelsea,Liverpool and Arsenal all seemed to be years ahead of United at that time. And even more pressure was applied with United not opting to replace Ruud with a similar forward,Trezeguet being the likely option with Juve in corruption meltdown in Italy.

SAF also throwed down the gantlet in,not only keeping the squad on their toes,but also applying the pressure on the offensive players to step up to the plate.

I feel SAF felt the team was becoming far too predictable and over reliant on Ruud for goals and he was proven right.

With Ruud now moved on United produced a far more varied creative approach,and a far more enjoyable one at that.

Still Ruud's time at United is still fondly remembered by me,those first two seasons especially where he seemed to be breaking goal-scoring records on a regular basis.
The only slight disappointment in his time here was his outstanding goal-scoring form didn't culminate in countless trophies.
 
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el3mel

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Regarding pure ability, he's the best striker I have ever seen in a United shirt. Got sold at the right time though.
 

Castia

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Great player he seemed to score almost every week.

I still remember his fallout with the club though (being dropped due to attitude etc) and his move to Madrid for peanuts didn’t help, top player but he tarnished his reputation near the end.
 
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Must say though I much preferred the rounded football we played prior to his signing and after,primarily seasons 06/07 and 07/08.

In his physical prime 2001-2003 he was the best striker I have seen at the club. Was world class

Glad we sold him when we did. Still a great finisher but he lost a yard of pace, we played better counter attacking football without him in the team and his attitude began to stink up the place.

Also mustn't forget he looked for a way out in 2004 by getting his agent to speak to Barcelona and AC Milan officials
That I did not know.Interesting.
 

L1nk

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Deserved to win much more at this club and probably would of had he been playing for us in any other time than the one we had, had some garbage players back then yet he was still smashing them in. I think people forget how intelligent and quick he was at one point.
 

Billy Blaggs

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In his physical prime 2001-2003 he was the best striker I have seen at the club. Was world class

Glad we sold him when we did. Still a great finisher but he lost a yard of pace, we played better counter attacking football without him in the team and his attitude began to stink up the place.

Also mustn't forget he looked for a way out in 2004 by getting his agent to speak to Barcelona and AC Milan officials
I didn't know that.

He was a cracking striker though.
 

Murray3007

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I just always think now how much goals he would score with the new offside rules. best striker I have seen in the premiership.