BBC article on Ruud van Nistelrooy

Fantastic article on a fantastic player. I still remember arguing on Orkut about him being better than Henry :lol:

Incredibly underrated when we talk about strikers of last decade.

Also, I wonder where people stand on RvN v Kane debate? Who’s the better player?
 
Fantastic article on a fantastic player. I still remember arguing on Orkut about him being better than Henry :lol:

Incredibly underrated when we talk about strikers of last decade.

Also, I wonder where people stand on RvN v Kane debate? Who’s the better player?

I think it's so hard to do player vs player comparison as players offer different things and teams have different requirements.

Henry for example could probably be more of a creative influence and certainly contributed more to his team outside the box. Inside the box Ruud was king. At the time we didn't need creativity outside. We had an all star cast creating for Ruud to apply the finish.
 
Fantastic article on a fantastic player. I still remember arguing on Orkut about him being better than Henry :lol:

Incredibly underrated when we talk about strikers of last decade.

Also, I wonder where people stand on RvN v Kane debate? Who’s the better player?

Last 15 to 20 years. His peak was not in the last decade.

Also, rvn was a bit of a nothing player for me at united. I never think of him, or have any real memories. My two lasting memories are that we improved when he left and his little strop in the league cup final.

Not saying he wasn't an awesome striker but just someone i never took to at all.

And as for being better than henry. Not close. Henry wins. (Ruud has only a slightly better goals per game ratio and nowhere near as much of a creative influence).

Edit: to clarify as this has caused much tedious outrage. I mean i just have no emotional connection to ruud. I never think of his time at united. He was obviously a really good player.
 
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Last 15 to 20 years. His peak was not in the last decade.

Also, rvn was a bit of a nothing player for me at united. I never think of him, or have any real memories. My two lasting memories are that we improved when he left and his little strop in the league cup final.

Not saying he wasn't an awesome striker but just someone i never took to at all.

And as for being better than henry. Not close. Henry wins. (Ruud has only a slightly better goals per game ratio and nowhere near as much of a creative influence).

That's incredibly harsh. He just had the misfortune of being at the club while we were in a brief transition.
 
Last 15 to 20 years. His peak was not in the last decade.

Also, rvn was a bit of a nothing player for me at united. I never think of him, or have any real memories. My two lasting memories are that we improved when he left and his little strop in the league cup final.

Not saying he wasn't an awesome striker but just someone i never took to at all.

And as for being better than henry. Not close. Henry wins. (Ruud has only a slightly better goals per game ratio and nowhere near as much of a creative influence).
:lol: Nothing player.

I suppose it boils down to personal preference. For me, RVN remains one of favourite footballers. Absurdly good striker. I'd love to have seen him in a better United side than he did. He would have set some seriously hard to catch records.
 
What a striker this guy was, phenomenal. I never tire to argue with people claiming he was a limited goal poacher, just shows the narrative by opposition fans.
 
Last 15 to 20 years. His peak was not in the last decade.

Also, rvn was a bit of a nothing player for me at united. I never think of him, or have any real memories. My two lasting memories are that we improved when he left and his little strop in the league cup final.

Not saying he wasn't an awesome striker but just someone i never took to at all.

And as for being better than henry. Not close. Henry wins. (Ruud has only a slightly better goals per game ratio and nowhere near as much of a creative influence).
:lol: you have incredibly high standards then.
 
That's incredibly harsh. He just had the misfortune of being at the club while we were in a brief transition.

I agree. I loved watching Ruud and, for me, he's the stand out striker at Utd.
 
Apparently he phoned SAF years later and apologised for his behaviour in his final year.

Never explained why though.
 
That's incredibly harsh. He just had the misfortune of being at the club while we were in a brief transition.
:lol: Nothing player.

I suppose it boils down to personal preference. For me, RVN remains one of favourite footballers. Absurdly good striker. I'd love to have seen him in a better United side than he did. He would have set some seriously hard to catch records.
:lol: you have incredibly high standards then.

I didn't say he wasn't a good player, quite the opposite. But i just never took to him. I have absolutely no emotional connection to him as a former united player. Thats what i mean by nothing player to me. I never ever think about him. When i see his name pop up i think "oh yeah he played for us" and thats it.
 
Incredible player who gets underrated by dimwits who only look at trophy counts.

Poached by Real Madrid at 30. He was the real deal.
 
The best finisher the league has ever seen. The article sums it up, when he was through on the keeper you could relax. You just knew.

I disagree his career is defined by that Arsenal game. Nobody but a few bitter Arsenal fans give a shit about that, everyone else remembers what a brilliant player he was.
 
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I didn't say he wasn't a good player, quite the opposite. But i just never took to him. I have absolutely no emotional connection to him as a former united player. Thats what i mean by nothing player to me. I never ever think about him. When i see his name pop up i think "oh yeah he played for us" and thats it.
Aargh, fair enough bud.
 
The best finisher the league has ever seen. The article sums it up, when he was through on the keeper you could relax. You just knew.

I disagree his career is defined by that Arsenal game. Nobody but a few bitter Arsenal fans give a shit about that, everyone else remembers what a brilliant player he was.
He had more time than anyone. There was no hesitancy.
 
His finishing stands out to me to be maybe the most clinical in a United shirt. He just had that incredible instinct.. For when to strike the ball, for where to place himself and then he had one hell of a shot on him. He reminds me a bit of Luca Toni in stature and instinct.

The finishing for him was always natural. When you look at our current striker Rashford, finishing is something he has to work extremely hard on. Ruud had it locked down from birth and in the youth-ranks like Rooney also had.
 
Fantastic article on a fantastic player. I still remember arguing on Orkut about him being better than Henry :lol:

Incredibly underrated when we talk about strikers of last decade.

Also, I wonder where people stand on RvN v Kane debate? Who’s the better player?

Kane is comparable to Cole.
RvN was comparable to Shearer, Aguero.
 
The best finisher the league has ever seen. The article sums it up, when he was through on the keeper you could relax. You just knew.

I disagree his career is defined by that Arsenal game. Nobody but a few bitter Arsenal fans give a shit about that, everyone else remembers what a brilliant player he was.

I agree with pretty much everything you have written.

I've added a video about a q and a he did which pretty much says as much about Arsenal.
 
Like a few other posters on this thread I just didn’t particularly like RVN. It was just something about him stopped me from warming to him. As a player and a goal scorer he was good but his all round performances and attitude just left me feeling cold. I wasn’t that even that annoyed when that Keown infamously jumped on him after he missed the penalty.
He certainly divides opinion.
 
Fantastic article on a fantastic player. I still remember arguing on Orkut about him being better than Henry :lol:

Incredibly underrated when we talk about strikers of last decade.

Also, I wonder where people stand on RvN v Kane debate? Who’s the better player?

Ruud and it's not even close
 
Never really warmed to Ruud. He was a great goalscorer and all but I felt he was limited outside of that, especially when you compared him to Henry. Also, felt he would leave us at some point for another team. Don't know why. I was about 15 at the time though so my opinions were based purely on emotion and not a lot else.
 
As others have said, in the box he was the king, you never felt he'd miss, absolutely deadly. His goal against Arsenal at Highbury lives long in the memory, ran straight past Martin Keown like he wasn't there and dinked the keeper with ice cold composure.
 
Fantastic article on a fantastic player. I still remember arguing on Orkut about him being better than Henry :lol:

Incredibly underrated when we talk about strikers of last decade.

Also, I wonder where people stand on RvN v Kane debate? Who’s the better player?
Make a thread about it?
 
Fantastic article on a fantastic player. I still remember arguing on Orkut about him being better than Henry :lol:

Incredibly underrated when we talk about strikers of last decade.


Also, I wonder where people stand on RvN v Kane debate? Who’s the better player?

We need to ban the word underrated on here

He won footballer of the year over Henry so was certainly not underrated
 
Like a few other posters on this thread I just didn’t particularly like RVN. It was just something about him stopped me from warming to him. As a player and a goal scorer he was good but his all round performances and attitude just left me feeling cold. I wasn’t that even that annoyed when that Keown infamously jumped on him after he missed the penalty.
He certainly divides opinion.

Whoa.. That Keown-episode had me filled with hate for Arsenal for about a decade
 
Loved watching Ruud growing up without a doubt one of my favourite United players. His celebration against Arsenal in 2005 still gives me chills to this day.
 
We need to ban the word underrated on here

He won footballer of the year over Henry so was certainly not underrated

I find he is underrated by fans when I speak to them these days.
 
My favourite United player ever. When I was 11/12 and started to become football obsessed he was the goal machine hero, no player has matched that feeling of when Ruud scored in my eyes.
 
My favourite United player ever. When I was 11/12 and started to become football obsessed he was the goal machine hero, no player has matched that feeling of when Ruud scored in my eyes.
You don’t remember Eric then do you? Now in the modern game (PL onwards), he is my favourite player, the player that reignited Utd and got us playing and winning again. In the modern era no other player comes close.