Christ! I'd never really thought of that - insane!
A moment to appreciate the 06-11 side Fergie built.
- Thread starter Alex99
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
Have I logged onto RAWK?Personally I reckon we would've won one of those finals (09 or 11) if Ronaldo stayed, the difference between a great team (e.g. invincibles, current man city, chelsea 04/05) and a legendary team (madrid late 50s, milan late 80s, man united late 00s, barca early 10s), is the really great teams have that one, ballon d'or level player or better yet GOAT tier player (Messi, Ronaldo, Pele, Maradona) who takes them to a truly unstoppable level. These players carry teams which without them would be about as good as the 'great' teams I mentioned (milan side had multiple ballon dor winners). Potentially man city could get here if someone there turned into a ballon dor level player, someone like Sane. I mean its totally possible United could hit this level in a few years, say players live up to their big potential.
Lets imagine with our optimistic crystal ball (let the dream begin): ZZZZZZzzzzzzz.......
"Commentator 1: Ahem, today is the big day, the champions league final 2022, man united vs bayern, a rematch of a famous game over 20 years ago now.
Commentator 2: Okay today with our starting lineups man united will line up in a 4-3-3:
In goal David De Gea, hes been the worlds best for a number of years now.
And the defence, the brick wall eric bailly partners axel tuanzebe, the classy young centre half.
Commentator 1: What a top player Bailly is, for me hes the very best, I mean its no wonder he was picked in the world XI this year.
Commentator 2: Mmmm, yes, moving on, in fullback, luke shaw is on the left. And...
Commentator 1 (interrupts): To think only a few years many thought he was done at United, what fools we were, now he well and truly established as one of the best left backs the premier league has to offer.
Commentator 2: Anyway, at right back, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, the powerful dutch fullback.
And in midfield, the dynamic brazilian, fabinho, solidifying the centre of the park, and ahead of him, Paul Pogba, the key driving force of this man united outfit. Next to him, Milinkovic-Savic, the powerful serbian with an eye for goal.
Commentator 1: He certainly showed us that last week when he scored the 2nd consecutive premier league for Man United at Anfield with that late winner.
Commentator 2: Now with the front 3, at right wing, Tahith Chong, the young academy graduate who took the premier league by storm last year, winning the pfa young player of the year. And in the middle, Romelu Lukaku, the captain of this United team, he'll be looking to lead this United outfit to glory through his goals tonight.
And last but not least, Anthony Martial, the man everyone will be watching.
Commentator 1: Well of course, he is the favourite to win this year's ballon d'or award."
Ah, we can hope.
That was Fergie's last great year of transfers. His record in the market was pretty shocking after that.
Is the correct answer. And we have the 2nd best in the 99-01 side.
City are a fair way off both right now.
I thought we were not going to be anywhere near the title after we sold RVN and then there was this feud between CR7 and Rooney, and in all honesty it seemed one of them may be sold.
But those 1st 20 minutes against Fulham in the 1st game of 2006/07 season- absolutely magnificent
But those 1st 20 minutes against Fulham in the 1st game of 2006/07 season- absolutely magnificent
I think the run from 1993-2003 was also quite insane!!
1993-League Champions
1994-League + FA Cup winners
1996-League+FA Cup winners
1997-League Champions
1999-Treble
2000-League Champions
2001-League Champions
2003-League Champions
8 League titles in 10 seasons!!!
Every bit as impressive as the run from 2006-2011....The man was just a genius...
haha well one can dream. Still though I'd love it if the core of the current team could eventually emulate the great United team of 2006-2009. With some new signings and some players already here getting the chance to develop into top players, who knows? 
I'm especially excited about Tahith Chong, if the last game of the season is a dead rubber like last season then I really hope Jose gives him, Gomes, Greenwood, etc a game in the premier league.
Also with regards to the United team of the 90's, I never realised this but its insane how Cantona won the league virtually every season he spent at United where he played most of the season (ie: every year but the one where he got suspended). Catalyst.
One of the things that SAF would do in that era is rotate the midfield. We knew Rooney and CR7 were going to start most games and we knew that Rio and Vidic would start if healthy. But the midfield was always in rotation and because of that, most rivals talked about how "weak" our midfield was. It wasn't weak. We just didn't depend on one midfield partnership the way that most clubs did. One day we would have Carrick and Scholes. The next match it would be Fletcher and Anderson. Then we would have specialists like Park who would barely get a start if we were playing the likes of Stoke or Sunderland, but if we had a big match coming up he would be right there on the left wing doing all the dirty work. And on those days we would often see Giggs move centrally to play in the #10. He was unpredictable to say the least...
I disagree. There's been a real split between the top 6 and the rest of the league this season, and as we've neared the end the distance between the top 4 and 5th and 6th has grown. City breaking the record is of course and achievement, but they've already lost more than the Chelsea side who's record they're attempting to break, and they need United to lose 6 points on them to break the winning margin record.
They've been a class apart from the others in the top 4 this season with their league form, but that form hasn't really come at the expense of the other teams in the top 4-6, but from putting away the fodder better. The fact that United could still finish on 89 points is testament to that.
I just can't get behind a team being the best ever side when they were eliminated from the FA Cup by a third tier team, and lost both legs of a CL quarter final meaning the aggregate score was 5-1.
Put it all together 92-13 and it's just non-stop success with the slight exception of the three years without a league in the mid 00s (though we still won two cups in that time). Apart from those three years, we always retained the league directly after losing it. Mourinho's first Chelsea are the only other team to have retained the PL, yet we did it in 94, 97, 00, 01 (first hat trick), 08 and 09 (second hat trick).
Also won it with Leeds in 92 - he won the league in all 5 seasons he completed in English football, and there's no doubt it would've been 6 out of 6 without the suspension. Incredible man.
It's an incredible period to look back on.
Shame the 'entertainment' aspect degraded over time, rather than getting better. Despite the trophies that followed, 2006/07 was the best season from that period.
Shame the 'entertainment' aspect degraded over time, rather than getting better. Despite the trophies that followed, 2006/07 was the best season from that period.
Looking at Premier League winning sides, this would be my ranking ((/xx) indicates an argument for that side continuing):
- Manchester United 2006-2011(/13) - Dominant domestically, European champions and only stopped from dominating there by a golden era Barcelona side
- Manchester United 1998-2003 - Dominant domestically and the only English team to ever win The Treble
- Manchester United 1992-1997 - Dominant domestically and the foundations of what was to come
- Chelsea 2004-2006(/08) - Dominated for two seasons, one of which was record breaking on a few fronts, knocked off the top by a dominant Manchester United side
- Arsenal 2001-2004(/06) - Contained The Invincibles and they were a very strong side
- Manchester City 2011-2014 - When the investment started to provide fruit
- Arsenal 1997/98 - Double winning side and the beginning of Wenger 'revolutionising' English football
- Chelsea 2009/10(/12) - Double winning side, marked the end of the Lampard/Terry led era
- Leicester City 2015/16 - Came out of absolutely nowhere to make history
- Manchester City 2017/18 - Very much room to move up as this could just be the beginning. Not convinced by a record points total alone making them warrant a higher place.
- Manchester United 2012/13 - Bounced back from disappointment the season before to win at a canter
- Chelsea 2016/17 - Recovered from the previous season under a new manager, then promptly fell off a cliff again the season after, just not quite as a big as the one they fell off the season before
- Chelsea 2014/15 - Mourinho's return to the top but absolutely disappeared the following season
- Blackburn Rovers 1994/95 - Won by a point, relegated before the decade was through
Either 98/99 or 07/08 has to be the two greatest PL era English sides ever, by default. The only two sides to win the European Cup after winning the league title. And that's matters greatly.
After that, think you can choose a lot of teams depending on your opinion or what you value in a team.
After that, think you can choose a lot of teams depending on your opinion or what you value in a team.
The 06-09 side had that rare combination of incredible defence and world class attack. Looking at the current City side, the likes of Otamendi, Stones and a creaking Kompany are a long way from Ferdinand and Vidic. It’s not too far fetched to say they could have won 3 champions leagues (no injury crisis vs Milan in 07 and a less eccentric refereeing performance in the Chelsea/Barcelona semi)
Most incredible run i ever witness in a United side. 3 champions league finals in a space of 4 years. Too bad that 2 finals was against Barcelona. Disappointed that the 2nd time we still have no answer to Barcelona tiki taka.
Even though it's a nice stat, I feel like excluding the years the competition was named the European Cup is a bit like comparing number of FA Carling Premiership titles to FA Barclaycard Premiership titles, FA Barclays Premiership and Barclays Premier League titles. The first year of the Champions League was even played in the same format as the last year of the European Cup.
If we factor in all the years of European Cup there is one other English team that won it the same year they won the league, and whom also did it twice, in 1976-77 and 1983-84.
I think it would be great if United did it again, so we could say it's the only team to ever do it three times
As a LFC fan, one of our best seasons in PL era was 2008/9 when we had Torres / Gerrard in attack, Alonso / Mascherano in midfield, a very solid back five with Reina, Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia & Aurelio. Kuyt got a lot of goals for us that season.
But despite that team being one of our strongest that United team still came out on top. Ronaldo probably being the difference between the two teams.
However it was just the pure amount of match winners you had compared to LFC then. Regular match winners were Torres, Gerrard & if you're being generous Kuyt, although despite his goals & his graft, he lacked craft.
That is what was so good about that United side from what I can remember, was just the pure amount of match winners & creators:
Scholes, Ronaldo, Berbatov, Rooney, Giggs, Park, Carrick... Saha?! Can't remember if he was there that season.
So many players who could win games & LFC lacked that over a season and got too many draws.
That's not taking anything away from Vidic & Ferdinand or the defensive structure. As defensively you had the best record then in the league.
Plus LFC actually scored more that season. But I always think that can be misleading as it's when games are tight, that's when you need the creativity & match winners. United had more and that's why they won more games for me.
But despite that team being one of our strongest that United team still came out on top. Ronaldo probably being the difference between the two teams.
However it was just the pure amount of match winners you had compared to LFC then. Regular match winners were Torres, Gerrard & if you're being generous Kuyt, although despite his goals & his graft, he lacked craft.
That is what was so good about that United side from what I can remember, was just the pure amount of match winners & creators:
Scholes, Ronaldo, Berbatov, Rooney, Giggs, Park, Carrick... Saha?! Can't remember if he was there that season.
So many players who could win games & LFC lacked that over a season and got too many draws.
That's not taking anything away from Vidic & Ferdinand or the defensive structure. As defensively you had the best record then in the league.
Plus LFC actually scored more that season. But I always think that can be misleading as it's when games are tight, that's when you need the creativity & match winners. United had more and that's why they won more games for me.
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Wonderful side with world class talent in nearly all positions, the football was a joy to watch.
That 07/08 team would give any of the so called best teams in the world a game. It's just a shame that we didn't have a consistent XI for a couple of years the way Real Madrid have had over the past few, the teams we started in the 07/08 final and the 08/09 final were very different and had we played the team from 07/08 I believe we'd have won. That was our zenith team and we've been slowly withering away since, but it looks like Mourinho's building a team that could one day get back up there (but still 4-5 signings away).
06-07 was my favourite United season, the football we played was phenomenal, I would pay good money to see that type of football again
The 10-11 team was a tire below the 06-09 side, 09-10 was somewhere in between.
This team or teams don't get anywhere near the respect they deserve for me. I feel they are the greatest United team ever.
On top of what has already been said.
Four titles in five years and three league titles on the bounce (only Huddersfield (in the 1920's), Liverpool (1970's?) and ourselves (99-01) (had ever done that before) and we only the lost 09/10 title by one point!
Three Champions League finals in four years (undefeated in the runs to the final as well) lost two finals to quite possibly the greatest ever team.
European record that still stand for longest time without conceding a goal. 1,311 minutes.
From Milan in May of 07 in the Champs league we lost in order - Barca may 09 (final) - (two years without a defeat in Europe) Besiktas 09 (in a dead rubber), Bayern 10, Barca 11 in the final. Four defeats in four years, that's insane. We didn't lose a meaningful home european game since Milan in Feb of 05 until Real Madrid in Feb/March 13 (8 YEARS)
In 10/11 we went to mid/end of Feb without losing a league game, and then only lost four league games all season (to Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea, no shame there...and Wolves as well)
Great team or teams and very very underrated, the best we have ever been for me. I do always wonder....what if Barca hadn't been around at time. Surely we would be on five European cups.
On top of what has already been said.
Four titles in five years and three league titles on the bounce (only Huddersfield (in the 1920's), Liverpool (1970's?) and ourselves (99-01) (had ever done that before) and we only the lost 09/10 title by one point!
Three Champions League finals in four years (undefeated in the runs to the final as well) lost two finals to quite possibly the greatest ever team.
European record that still stand for longest time without conceding a goal. 1,311 minutes.
From Milan in May of 07 in the Champs league we lost in order - Barca may 09 (final) - (two years without a defeat in Europe) Besiktas 09 (in a dead rubber), Bayern 10, Barca 11 in the final. Four defeats in four years, that's insane. We didn't lose a meaningful home european game since Milan in Feb of 05 until Real Madrid in Feb/March 13 (8 YEARS)
In 10/11 we went to mid/end of Feb without losing a league game, and then only lost four league games all season (to Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea, no shame there...and Wolves as well)
Great team or teams and very very underrated, the best we have ever been for me. I do always wonder....what if Barca hadn't been around at time. Surely we would be on five European cups.
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Agree with all of this, except Tevez is a shitcnut and shouldn’t be mentioned alongside the likes of Rafael, VDS, Fletcherinho etc.
The charity shield of Anderson-TC23 destroying City is one of my faves.
The charity shield of Anderson-TC23 destroying City is one of my faves.
Think Arsenal got three in a row in the 30s.
Just checked this and you are right. You learn something new every day. On the back of that though like I said. 06/07, 07/08, 08/09. Champions.
09/10 we lost by one point. Now Chelsea deserved the title that year. But I am sure we had Rio, Vidic and Edwin Van Der Sar only playing for like eight games out of thirty eight in the league that year. Big losses.
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I'm still bitter over 09/10. Could be a long long time before we get such a chance at four in a row (which would have turned to five) again. A bad transfer window that summer and an injury to Rooney in the run-in fecked us.