I tend to think this, too. We had no problem scoring and creating chances. We were just very vulnerable at the back.Messed about with poor goalkeepers and CB's. Simple as that really.
Interesting thing about that year, is that although we may have been a bit off the boil compared to previous years, we were still shit hot in one off games. Like when we beat the "Invincibles" in the semi final of the FA Cup, with no Rio or Van Nistelrooy and Roy Carroll in goal!By 03/04 united was no longer among Europe's best even had we not been wronged in that tie it was far from a given that we'd have a straight run at the title and it only hurt more in retrospect after Porto went all the way.
I tend to think this, too. We had no problem scoring and creating chances. We were just very vulnerable at the back.
Schmeichel in a recent interview said he could've - and should've - stayed here a bit longer. Let's say he did and/or we bring in van der Sar sooner than we did, alongside keeping Stam to play alongside Rio. Surely we at least make another final in this period.
He definitely declined but he said in a recent interview that he thinks it could've worked had he got a rest prior to the season beginning (as he hadn't one for years at that point) and accepted that he wouldn't play every game.I think Schmeichel left at the right time, he was quite average, or even poor, in the 98/99 season.
Otherwise agree with the points made earlier in this old thread (apologies if bumping is against the rules), the transfer window after the treble was bizarre and didn't show any ambition to go on a run in Europe. Something repeated after Fergie's second CL win.
We did get held back by the business side of things in the 90s, especially for a club our size. We apparently agreed deals with Batistuta and R9, but Martin Edwards wouldn't sanction Batistuta's wages. We didn't start flexing our financial muscles properly until 2001 really. Then the Glazers happened shortly after.According to Fergie, in the summer of 1998 we had the money required to get Stam and Blomqvist. We signed Yorke by making the deal later and using next year's money, so maybe that's why we didn't do much in the transfer market in the summer of 2000. Sounds crazy now but at the time we didn't use to spend as much as we did in 1998.
We did get held back by the business side of things in the 90s, especially for a club our size. We apparently agreed deals with Batistuta and R9, but Martin Edwards wouldn't sanction Batistuta's wages. We didn't start flexing our financial muscles properly until 2001 really. Then the Glazers happened shortly after.
Edit: I think R9 may have been a work permit issue, actually.
Yeah, the team still had some lingering quality from days gone by which showed itself from time to time, nowhere near enough for a sustained league campaign but maybe just enough for lucky cup run and it certainly would have been nice seeing us win the thing outside of our best the way Liverpool and Chelsea went on to do.Interesting thing about that year, is that although we may have been a bit off the boil compared to previous years, we were still shit hot in one off games. Like when we beat the "Invincibles" in the semi final of the FA Cup, with no Rio or Van Nistelrooy and Roy Carroll in goal!
With Arsenal running away with the league and us totally out of it, I reckon Fergie would have wrapped Keane, Scholes, Ruud and Giggs up in cotton wool and focused solely on the CL.
Yeah, the team still had some lingering quality from days gone by which showed itself from time to time, nowhere near enough for a sustained league campaign but maybe just enough for lucky cup run and it certainly would have been nice seeing us win the thing outside of our best the way Liverpool and Chelsea went on to do.
It really was a bizarro season all things considered, don't think we'd ever see one quite like it and that deportivo comeback remains the greatest European underdog win of them all.
This. The keepers we had between Schmeichel and VDS were hopeless.Messed about with poor goalkeepers and CB's. Simple as that really.
They belted us in the away leg with Bosnich having a stormer. I’m sure Cole headed over from. relatively open goal though..The Monaco Madrid tie that season was also fantastic.
Regarding the '00 exit to Madrid, I never saw the first leg away, but understand we should have won and wasted good chances.
Didn't United have a perfectly good goal ruled out for offside? It would have completely changed the second leg.They belted us in the away leg with Bosnich having a stormer. I’m sure Cole headed over from. relatively open goal though..
Notwithstanding that we were pretty strong favourites to beat them at Old Trafford.
The summer we won the treble, instead of consolidating the squad with a top player or two to show we meant business, we brought in Taibi, Bosnich, Silvestre and Fortune.
Selling Stam to replace him with a 35 year old Laurent Blanc was quite an act of self-sabotage as well.
If you look at 2003, we were in a crazy battle with Arsenal for the title. Not a chance we could rest players and maybe concentrate on Europe like maybe Real Madrid have done in the past.
We would have likely reached final if Scholes goal stood against Porto but we were not really that good that season. We fell apart after Ferdinand got banned.
We would have probably still lost the final to Real Madrid in 2002 anyway but would have had a great chance against Chelsea in 2009 if they don’t get screwed over by referee against Barcelona.
We weren't good enough defensively.
Stop gap keepers between Schmeichel to VDS.
Gary Neville peaked probably 2000-04, his best years in terms of marrying defensive play with good attacking output.
Never had a great CB pairing in those years. Stam and Johnsen fell part due to injuries to RJ, Henning Berg was a solid squad player but not much more. Wes Brown due to injuries never really fulfilled his potential. Silvestre was erratic and often better at left back. Rio needed a Vidic rather than trying to deal with Blanc and all these other sub optimal options.
Irwin was old, Phil Neville was a better RB but had to play LB often, Silvestre was prone to silly errors.
Yorke falling off quickly also did not help.
There was also much equality in the CL, not like now when 90% of the teams are cannon fodder.
They belted us in the away leg with Bosnich having a stormer. I’m sure Cole headed over from. relatively open goal though..
Notwithstanding that we were pretty strong favourites to beat them at Old Trafford.
It was very strange. Wasn't their concern about Stam that he'd lost some pace after his injury? To then replace him with a very slow player ...
This. Winning it often is something that happens only very, very rarely for generational teams. And a certain club that we need not mention.There's a lot of randomness in winning the Champions League, it's kind of the normal thing not to win it very often.
If we'd reached the final in 03/04 we'd have won it. I'd have been more worried about Lyon and Deportivo over two legs than Monaco in the final.
To be honest those were probably some of his worst years, between 1999 and 2002 he was more often than not a liability defensively. He says himself he was awful after the treble season, though he thinks it only lasted a year. In my opinion it was closer to 3.
I don't remember how long the rot lasted, but I always thought we saw his best version in the couple of years before his serious injury. Good defensively and an excellent crosser going forward.
The Monaco Madrid tie that season was also fantastic.
Regarding the '00 exit to Madrid, I never saw the first leg away, but understand we should have won and wasted good chances.
I remember we beat West Ham 7-0 at OT the weekend before, and the Spanish press were writing off Real’s chances. Then Redondo happened…going into the 2nd leg we were favourites.
i watched the first leg game again a few years back in lockdown and Bosnich and Keane were by far our best players . We might have stolen a 1-0 win with an Andy Cole chance but it would have been robbery really. I felt watching it again that Keane was really isolated in midfield and although he won possession a lot of times there was just so much space for Madrid to run into. In hindsight maybe Butt might have been a better pick than Scholes in the midfield. Bosnich had a great game and was MotM but a draw flattered us.The Monaco Madrid tie that season was also fantastic.
Regarding the '00 exit to Madrid, I never saw the first leg away, but understand we should have won and wasted good chances.
