BBC article on Ruud van Nistelrooy
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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?
Might be the most underrated striker in Premier League history. Probably because he wasn't here long enough to reach 100 goals, but still.
A bit more detail on Ruud and others in terms of goals per MINUTE (have to ignore a couple on the list because of the 15 game qualification requirement).
https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/official-20-players-best-minutes-goal-ratio-premier-league-history?page=0,3&_format=amp
https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/official-20-players-best-minutes-goal-ratio-premier-league-history?page=0,3&_format=amp
Looking at some of the comments here, one of United's more underrated players too.
I couldn't care if he appeared "cold" (which I never felt personally) or what he did outside the box. On the latter point, some people apparently wouldn't rate Gerd Muller then.
I want my centre forward to score goals, full-stop.
Ruud scored goals. Loved him.
Ruud was
Ruud: proper striker.
Did you just imagine that? Beckham might as well have not been here for his last 2 and 1/2 years.
Ruud: proper striker.
Oh yeah, that guy. Scored 150 goals in 219 games for us at an insane rate - the fastest for anyone who scored over 100 goals for United (also fastest for anyone who scored 50+).
In my life time of supporting United, I've never seen a better "goal scorer" than RvN. Also, you need to research what the phrase "nothing player" actually means.
Wah wah wah. Someone else has a different opinion to you. Oh noes.
It's not that your opinion differs from mine. You called him a "nothing player". That's bullshit.
No emotional connection to Ruud? Never really warmed up to him? Wow.
I’ve seen some surprising comments on the Caf but these list well up there
I’ve seen some surprising comments on the Caf but these list well up there
I can't understand anyone who may have any thoughts of Ruud other than 'one of, if not THE best striker' this club has ever seen! The man was a machine for the brief time he was here.
Unbelievable striker! Seeing him on the pitch, he was a monster!
Unbelievable striker! Seeing him on the pitch, he was a monster!
I would take RVN in his prime over 99% of any other strikers, let alone Kane. No settling in time needed, hit the ground sprinting and didn't really stop until he left. Astonishing striker.
Nah. I said he was a good player. But i have no emoyional connection to him. He is a nothing player in my mind in the great pantheon of united players. Sorry.
And?
If there was a head or a foot that you wanted Beck's crosses to meet it was his! Dream pairing.
Lovely article.I absolutely worshipped this guy,he was my first football hero...
But after that incident especially his failed penalty, he didn't look like the same again until we finally were able to beat arsenal and he scored the penalty at the game. That was what I feel at that time
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Awesome player. Shame that he was frustrated by the emergence of Ronaldo who didn't play well with Ruud, especially in Ronnie's 25 step over early days which negated the intelligence of Ruud's runs.
We looked a better team after he left but I think that was in part down to Ronnie becoming a better decision maker rather than Saha being better than Ruud.
We looked a better team after he left but I think that was in part down to Ronnie becoming a better decision maker rather than Saha being better than Ruud.
Back then Ruud and Henry would be the dream team pairing up front.
Ruud is my all time favourite player mainly because I only really got into watching games around the time he joined.
Always felt when he was playing that being a goal down wouldn't be a big deal because he would be almost be guaranteed to score anyway.
I was really upset when he left back in 2006, at the time a naive me would have let Ronaldo go instead, at the end of the day SAF made the correct decision.
Someone asked Kane or RVN?
My choice is RVN, maybe down to nostalgia, but Kane is in a comfort zone right now. I feel he's a perfect player for Spurs but would lose some of that light anywhere else. Just like Bale, he's a great player but has he really been the same player we had seen when at spurs before he left?
RVN went down as a legend for Real Madrid in such a short space of time, that says something!
Always felt when he was playing that being a goal down wouldn't be a big deal because he would be almost be guaranteed to score anyway.
I was really upset when he left back in 2006, at the time a naive me would have let Ronaldo go instead, at the end of the day SAF made the correct decision.
Someone asked Kane or RVN?
My choice is RVN, maybe down to nostalgia, but Kane is in a comfort zone right now. I feel he's a perfect player for Spurs but would lose some of that light anywhere else. Just like Bale, he's a great player but has he really been the same player we had seen when at spurs before he left?
RVN went down as a legend for Real Madrid in such a short space of time, that says something!
Rooney and Ronaldo also matured and reached their peak years after Ruud left. Having Tevez also helped.
In 2008 we had several world class players who were either not around when Ruud was or were not the finished product yet. And Chelsea and Arsenal were much weaker then a few years before.
I find this mad. I have great memories of Ruud. Never had confidence in a player to put the ball in the back of the net like with him.
Wasn't there in 2006/07 when we played arguably our best football of the decade.
I do think that getting away from having a centre-forward who usually contributed little to the build-up play helped. For counter-attacking, always a great strength of Fergie's best United sides, Saha (and then Tévez) was far more suited than Van Nistelrooy.
Ruud was great at what he did. Was gutted when he went.
Can’t think of a more clinical striker in my time supporting us. Streets ahead of Rooney, Coley, Yorke, Mclair, RVP, Tevez, Berbatov, Saha, Forlan, Cantona, Hughes. All different types of strikers listed there but for simply finishing i just can’t see past Ruud. His only equal in my mind...based on the old VHS tapes having never seen him live...would be Dennis Law.
For the record. He was far from my fav player during his time. You can’t deny how brilliant he was though
For the record. He was far from my fav player during his time. You can’t deny how brilliant he was though
Ruuuuuuuuud. My favourite Utd player to this day.
I can only imagine those who feel cold towards him are being clouded by his controversial exit or their love of everything Ronaldo.
He was the best striker and finisher I have ever seen at the club and a complete match winner. He was like RvP in 2012/13 for 4-5 seasons, and he did it at all levels against all opposition. Was CL top scorer for 3 seasons while with us, the guy was a machine.
If I could pick any player in history to have one chance on goal to win us a cup final it would be him without hesitation, he made scoring look so easy.
He was the best striker and finisher I have ever seen at the club and a complete match winner. He was like RvP in 2012/13 for 4-5 seasons, and he did it at all levels against all opposition. Was CL top scorer for 3 seasons while with us, the guy was a machine.
If I could pick any player in history to have one chance on goal to win us a cup final it would be him without hesitation, he made scoring look so easy.
He's one of the purest strikers this game has ever seen. To me, he belongs to the greatest players of all time list. Ruud is one of the reasons i started loving the football at United. What happened with Ruud at United is something i have forgotten and moved on. So did he, how well!
No problem with you not warming to him, but from a grown-up-at-the-time viewpoint I want to argue a few of these points. For one, Ruud was not a solo runner or long distance shooter like for instance Henry, but he certainly had as good a tool belt outside the box as, say, Dwight Yorke. He was technical, intelligent, efficient and a fighter, and he used it so he was good at holding up the ball, playing the right people in, building up play and making space for himself as well as for others.
Secondly, although he has said it was a choice to go to Madrid, I thinknit’s pretty clear it was a result of him falling in favour in Ferguson’s view. He did lose q step through injury, and Ferguson wanted him to play second fiddle to young Ronaldo and eventually Rooney, which didn’t make the best of RVN’s strengths, whereas Beckham and Solskjær did. If it was up to Ruud, I think he would have played at United til he was 32.
In many ways, he was like Yorke and Cole rolled into one.
This thread needs goals
As a kid, I don't think I appreciated his off the ball intelligence and just how much of a handful he was for defenders. I think I only really became aware of that when we signed Chicharito and I watched his off the ball movement.
RVN was an enigma in many ways. I remember thinking he looked clumsy and awkward most of the time but still seemed to be elegant with the ball at his feet, didn't make any sense, as he appeared as though he was galloping most of the time instead of running. I remember I took particular annoyance at United during this time as well because I felt we were too over reliant on him having a good game and scoring, which frustrated me as I felt as though we had a better team than RVN + 10.
Anyway, you're definitely right about how good of a player he was, he's just never been one of my favourites or would even get in my top 3 strikers list, mostly through no fault of his own.
He was a beast. I remember the sky sports story when united were watching him and signed him and he ruptured his ACL in the clip. Was a terrible shame but then he came and lived up to all the expectation.
I don’t agree with this, as RvN contributed as much to the build up play as did Tevez and Saha. RvN had a big ego (as did Tevez, if not Saha), but he was very conscious of his need of his co-players to be able to shine. He was also technically very proficient and conscious of team play. Which is why he struggled with young Ronaldo, who at that time wasn’t.
He was also fairly quick before his last round of injuries, and intelligent innhis runs. Peak RVN playing with peak Ronaldo and peak Rooney would be amazing if you ask me.
Not sure what qualifies as "peak" - one might argue we've only seen peak Ronaldo at Real Madrid. But Rooney and Ronaldo were both excellent in 06/07 and yet in the previous season, with Van Nistelrooy, it wasn't "amazing", or even close to it really.
I can relate to that, as I didn’t take to another Dutch, Arnold Mühren before he was almost through as a footballer, while he was certainly one of our best players under Atkinson in the early eighties, not far off my hero Bryan Robson.
I did share your frustration of us being over reliant on him. Ferguson was a great rebuilder of teams, the best ever, but i think rebuilding from the Class of 92-stem-team was his most labored one, I think actually that really took from 2001 to 2006. RvN in many ways was responsible for bridging the gap creating a ‘false peak’ in 2003, which was quite impressing considering Arsenals best ever team played at that time.
I agree, peak is maybe a misleading word. I mean that level when a player is mature while at the same time physically at a top level.
Because R’n’R were not mature in their play and interplay yet in 2005. And the team was in transition as a whole, right down to players and playing style. Ferguson also decided to build our play around R’n’Rs rising strengths, making them look better while developing, while making RvN look, and function, worse. It was a three year walk in the desert, remember, coinciding with not finding the right players at GK, in defense and particularly, in midfield.
The pieces gradually fell into place at the same period when RvN had his working conditions deteriorating. Carrick and the maturation of Ronaldo maybe being the final and very important two pieces.
Ferguson’s choiceswas of course confirmed as genious (remember many wanted him out in 2004/5), and in my eyes it was perhaps his most impressive feat. RvN however, proved at Real Madrid that it was not about him, and I think also showed that he would have been useful at Old Trafford in that period had he stayed.
I don’t recall seeing Eric play. I would have been around 8 in his final season.
Ruud van nistelrooy tra la la la la....ruud van nistelrooy traaaaa la la la la la la...
I feel Ruud is a bit overrated at your side of the pond. The comparison to Henry isn't even a topic here. Henry is in a completely different league if you ask me. Ruud was a great goalscorer, that's it.
At least, that's what I (we Dutch feckers) think of him.
At least, that's what I (we Dutch feckers) think of him.
My word
I've already explained that a few times. Not going to do it again.
I think most people will agree with you now, it was just a big debate at the time because both were scoring a lot of goals, playing for rival sides.
Henry is undoubtedly the better all-round player, but Ruud was a better goalscorer.