Cole, Sheringham, Solskjaer and Yorke

Luke1995

Full Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2016
Messages
3,444
Yep, RVN came in and was scoring in the 40s which none of the others got near.
Yes you can say it was all centred around him, in a way it was never round the rest, but you can also point out he missed the absolute top class team of the treble.
Why Ferguson accepted to sell Ruud to Madrid anyway ?
 

thepolice123

Full Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2008
Messages
12,179
Yorke was our best player in 98/99 alongside Becks and Keane. He had the highest peak but the shortest career. Still remember that move he did to beat the two Juve defenders. Both of them shat their pants when he ran at them with the ball, they dived in at the same time and he did that Iniesta in-out move to escape them. It was Ronaldo-esque. One of the defenders was Juve great Ferrera too.
 

Luke1995

Full Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2016
Messages
3,444
He was 30, had a training ground bust up and simply wasn't as good as he used to be. For three seasons he was phenomenal, though.
I'm pretty sure by 2005 or 2006 Ole wasn't as good as he used to be aswell, but Fergie had no problem keeping him
 

Van Piorsing

Lost his light sabre
Joined
Feb 10, 2006
Messages
22,525
Location
Polska
Quality or not, Cole was a goal scoring machine that allowed United to continue winning trophies despite not signing Shearer. It looked like SAF went even further with building significance of Andy by singning specifically Yorke to unlock player's potential even more. His role was growing exponentially, especially after Eric shocked United with retirement.

Nothing beats Solskjaer's moment vs Bayern but Coley had his big moment vs Spurs which decided title race. Ball control looked bit clumsy but finishing was spot on as best way to beat charging Walker was put the ball above him.

Cole
Solskjaer
Yorke
Teddy

Ole was indisputtable legend and still building it today so he'll be always remembered more, but Cole was the foundation too hard to ignore in SAF's football puzzle.
 

chomsky89

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jun 5, 2016
Messages
126
Location
Budapest
Solskjaer is so remembered for his finishing, people forget that for a striker, he made a ton of assists per minutes on the field. There was a doc a few years ago(tried googling but couldn't find the title) that took a deep look at PL player statistics. Solskjaer had the best ever assist to minute ratio per minute on the field, for a striker. And he was number 1 by quite a large margin as well.
 

Oldyella

Full Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2014
Messages
5,755
I'm pretty sure by 2005 or 2006 Ole wasn't as good as he used to be aswell, but Fergie had no problem keeping him
Much like Keane also found out, at a certain point your usefulness as a player means keeping your head down if you want to stay. Ole was I imagine a managers dream and perfect example to younger players, of course you would keep players like that around a little longer.
 

Luke1995

Full Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2016
Messages
3,444
Much like Keane also found out, at a certain point your usefulness as a player means keeping your head down if you want to stay. Ole was I imagine a managers dream and perfect example to younger players, of course you would keep players like that around a little longer.
Fergie said he tried to play Keane in a holding midfielder role and he was too proud to accept it.
 

svn

Full Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2011
Messages
217
At the time, it seemed like it was either Ronaldo or Ruud, because of their clashing personalities and a training ground bust up. We choose Ronaldo.
 

Bobski

Full Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2017
Messages
9,662
Cole
Cole
Cole

Insanely underrated was Andrew.
Yes. Utd brought in and out and out scorer and turned him into one of the best all round forwards in the game. His goal record never matched the Newcastle days, but Utd spread the goals, Cole with his unselfishness, underrated creativity and ability on the ball allowed others to reach their potential alongside him. Outside of Eric I think he performed well in any pairing we tried him in, was also capable of playing as a lone striker or from wide on occasion. His movement is still the best I have seen from a Utd striker, and the quickness of his feet on the turn was remarkable, and he also developed that physical and mental edge I love to see from Utd players.



Ruud replaced him as our main striker, was brilliant individually but channeling everything to one player, especially one as single minded as RVN, made us more predictable.

Our most underrated player ever, and has a phenomenal variation of high quality goals to show his ability. Headers, chips, interplay, goals from range, overhead kicks, scored every type of goal.
 

Al-T

Full Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2014
Messages
1,060
They all brought things to the table.

Vision, touch, finding space, there were few better than Sheringham though. Some of his play was sublime.
 

thepolice123

Full Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2008
Messages
12,179
I'm pretty sure by 2005 or 2006 Ole wasn't as good as he used to be aswell, but Fergie had no problem keeping him
Ole was one of Fergie's favourite and had a career ending injury. Fergie stuck with him out of sentiment. It was the same with Fletch when he got that illness.
 

UnrelatedPsuedo

I pity the poor fool who stinks like I do!
Joined
Apr 15, 2015
Messages
10,047
Location
Blitztown
Our most underrated player ever, and has a phenomenal variation of high quality goals to show his ability. Headers, chips, interplay, goals from range, overhead kicks, scored every type of goal.
Absolutely. Liverpool still revere Fowler for what was an excellent decade (?). Top number nine. But they called him God ffs.

Cole was a better footballer. Better overall footballer than Shearer too (though not as good a 9)

He’s also the most appropriate comparison to Harry Kane in terms of what level Kane may get to. He’s definitely not there yet.
 

galwayfa

Full Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2015
Messages
742
Why Ferguson accepted to sell Ruud to Madrid anyway ?
Was there not a story that ruud when he tackled Ronaldo in training, and Ronaldo complained, ruud said go tell your dad, ronaldos father hadn't long passed and a fergie been a father figure, wasn't sure who it was meant to, but ruud was sold after that.
 

Luke1995

Full Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2016
Messages
3,444
Was there not a story that ruud when he tackled Ronaldo in training, and Ronaldo complained, ruud said go tell your dad, ronaldos father hadn't long passed and a fergie been a father figure, wasn't sure who it was meant to, but ruud was sold after that.
But that couldn't be the only reason, from a technical standpoint Ruud was still close to his prime although he was just a little bit past it.

In Keane's case he was clearly past his prime and causing tension, but Ruud was still good player.
 

RedRonaldo

Wishes to be oppressed.
Joined
Aug 17, 2003
Messages
18,996
(a) best player is Yorke, but his peak didn't last long for us.
(b) Cole has best career at united among the four, although I didn't rate Cole that highly. He has been wasteful in his earlier United years, watching him is similar to watching Lukaku in his last season here. He still scored but its frustrating to watch. But things start to turn around when Yorke joined us, Cole becomes a good player for us.
(c) Ole, he scored the winning goal
 
Last edited:

RedRonaldo

Wishes to be oppressed.
Joined
Aug 17, 2003
Messages
18,996
But that couldn't be the only reason, from a technical standpoint Ruud was still close to his prime although he was just a little bit past it.

In Keane's case he was clearly past his prime and causing tension, but Ruud was still good player.
I remember there was a period when we play better as a team starting Saha up front instead of Ruud.
 
Joined
May 22, 2017
Messages
13,122
Cole was a better footballer. Better overall footballer than Shearer too (though not as good a 9)

He’s also the most appropriate comparison to Harry Kane in terms of what level Kane may get to. He’s definitely not there yet.
I loved Andy (or Andrew later in his career) Cole and he’s under appreciated outside of Utd - excuse he never had an international career of any note and because he was in such a great team. However to say he was a better overall footballer than Shearer is nuts. Shearer was the complete player, and he had explosive pace before the injuries hit him. This isint in any way a slight on Cole, but Shearer was better in almost every aspect of being a footballer.
 

FrankDrebin

Don't call me Shirley
Joined
Aug 25, 2019
Messages
19,877
Location
Police Squad
Supports
USA Manchester Red Socks
Ole was one of Fergie's favourite and had a career ending injury. Fergie stuck with him out of sentiment. It was the same with Fletch when he got that illness.
Well that and the fact Ole was a more slightly versatile player. He could be effective on the right,which is one of the reasons United moved Beckham on,on the left and just behind another forward.
Plus,Ole wasn't on big wages which Ruud obviously would've been.

Also,it was quite clear for team harmony to be restored that Ruud and Ronaldo could no longer function. So naturally we moved on the old,declining (because he clearly was) Ruud and kept the bright,creative spark in Ronaldo which handsomely paid dividends the following season.

I must admit though,I've never been such a big Ruud fan. Never warmed to him while he was here yet I acknowledged his talent.
 

jem

Full Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2010
Messages
9,257
Location
Toronto
Much like Keane also found out, at a certain point your usefulness as a player means keeping your head down if you want to stay. Ole was I imagine a managers dream and perfect example to younger players, of course you would keep players like that around a little longer.
Much like Juan Mata these days.
 

Rish Sawhney

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Mar 15, 2015
Messages
619
Location
State College
But that couldn't be the only reason, from a technical standpoint Ruud was still close to his prime although he was just a little bit past it.

In Keane's case he was clearly past his prime and causing tension, but Ruud was still good player.
Ferguson was the master of getting rid of players that were on the decline but were still good enough to be sold. He only kelp players over 30 around on a rolling 1 year contract if they were good mentors for the young players and a good influence in the dressing room.
 

Luke1995

Full Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2016
Messages
3,444
Ferguson was the master of getting rid of players that were on the decline but were still good enough to be sold. He only kelp players over 30 around on a rolling 1 year contract if they were good mentors for the young players and a good influence in the dressing room.
So had he stayed in 2013, Rooney would probably have been sold...
 

tjb

Full Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2013
Messages
3,309
Yorke was our best player in 98/99 alongside Becks and Keane. He had the highest peak but the shortest career. Still remember that move he did to beat the two Juve defenders. Both of them shat their pants when he ran at them with the ball, they dived in at the same time and he did that Iniesta in-out move to escape them. It was Ronaldo-esque. One of the defenders was Juve great Ferrera too.
On his game Yorke was unstoppab;=le. The 6-1 at Arsenal was far more than his goals, his touches and threat were just dangerous. Cole worked best with a strike partner as opposed to a no.10. Sheringham was great but i feel people here are overvaluing his technical skill. If the goal of the game is to productive as a forward, his lack of contributions compared to the other three in the treble and 2000 seasons ( our two best seasons) needs to weigh more. Fergie clearly did not feel that he was as impactful as the other three as he played the least at that time. In fact, Teddy only started getting games when Cole and Yorke started declining.His best days were before he moved to us. Ole was the most versatile, he could play as a 9, support striker or on the flanks and always gave his best. His lack of physicality is the only reason he wasn't the certified starter that he could have been. In today's game, Ole would have been the one starting most of the games.
 

lsd

The Oracle
Joined
Jun 5, 2016
Messages
10,784
Just watched a video of all Ole's goals for us and he really was the best pure finisher we had in my time of watching . He was just amazingly deadly in front of goal and add to his all round game which was great as well . Anyone who thinks he was not our best striker in Fergie years is fooling themselves
 

Spoony

The People's President
Joined
Oct 27, 2001
Messages
63,107
Location
eerF Palestine.
Just watched a video of all Ole's goals for us and he really was the best pure finisher we had in my time of watching . He was just amazingly deadly in front of goal and add to his all round game which was great as well . Anyone who thinks he was not our best striker in Fergie years is fooling themselves

He was clinical but not a chance in hell he was Fergie's best striker. Looks like we're all fools. Or something.