I'd take Tony's season simply because he didn't take pens and his overall play was unreal (and sadly forgotten these days). Ibra scored more goals but the teams was basically built around him and the overall play was a bit worse than the 2020 teams especially post lockdown.
Robin van Persie is the best striker we have ever had in the PL...
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No; Cantona, Cole/Yorke during their peak, RvN, CR and Rooney; then, RvP.
It's funny how he's actually "worse" than them.
It's funny how he's actually "worse" than them.
Just repeating what many others have said. It's Ruud. No question for me.
Thierry Henry is the best striker I have seen in the premier league and I'm a big Ruud fan.
RVN and Rooney were both better imo.
In the PL era, no one competes with Yorke's 98/99 season.
technically a brilliant forward. beautiful touch, fantastic game intelligence, great movement and had a fecking lethal left foot. Wish Fergie snapped him up when he was younger. Exceptional player but blighted with injuries...
Rooney (2004 - 2009) was better imo.
Rooney (2004 - 2009) was better imo.
Ruud.
Dwight Yorke probably wasn't a better outright player, but he was definitely more effective in terms of both individual goals and helping the attacking unit as a whole be effective. Ruud fails dismally on that score. So did Ronaldo.
We are simply spoilt for choice in ANY position during the time of Fergie when debating a who was the greatest player for any position. That is how blessed we were.
Rooney all day long was better. At his peak he was unbelievable.
I would agree with this, RvP was so good but Ruud just gets it.Van Nistelrooy was the best striker we've ever had in the league, the guy was a machine.
02/03 Ruud was just
In fact thinking about it more, I would put peak Rooney and Eric above RvP
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Must have missed him turning out for United.
When did he play for us ?
You actually got him slightly past his peak. He scored 42 goals in the annual year of 2011. He was on a goal a game for much of that year and ended the year on a goal every 0.97 games. Also he wasn't just a goalscorer, RVP got 30 goals and 10 assists in 11/12 and 26 goals and 9 assists in 12/13. Comparatively RVNs highest PL return was 25 and he had better service with Beckham, Prime Giggs/Scholes/Veron.
42 goals in 2011
42 goals in 2011
From a neutral's perspective, I would rate Cole, van Nistelrooy, and Rooney higher.
Rooney was the complete package. van Nistelrooy was devastating in the box, and Cole was pretty complete as well.
van Persie is certainly your best forward from 2012 onwards though.
Rooney was the complete package. van Nistelrooy was devastating in the box, and Cole was pretty complete as well.
van Persie is certainly your best forward from 2012 onwards though.
That is extremely harsh on Ruud's first three seasons. He was bring directly compared to Henry so his all-round game got under-rated quite a bit. Our drop in success was more due to the lack of quality in the rest of the squad rather than him. Keeper, central defence and leftback were all noticeably weaker than we had before and after, Keane's performance level had dropped after his injury and had to change his game a fair bit, and our squad midfielders and attackers were poor.
Ruud was never the same after the injury he had in his fourth season (or was it right at the end of the third, I can't remember now), so I do agree that he was starting to hold the team back a bit in his last two seasons. Favouring Saha in that final season was a definite improvement, but in saying that a fit Saha was a fantastic striker in his own right.
Always RVN.
Agreed. Cole was insanely good and never really gets mentioned. Goals by season starting 93/94: 41, 27, 13 (transfer to United), 7 (Ruddock broke his leg), 25, 24, 22, 13, 18 (transfer to Blackburn). He just stayed playing too long but was knocking in double figures for Fulham and City even after his Blackburn days.
why you guys acting like Thierry Henry and Aguero did not play in the PL haha?
Thread is about United strikers.
Must have missed the seasons they played for United.
Van Nistelroy is still my favourite striker.
No doubt. He was a monster
Apologies. Thought we were discussing PL . But our best striker was Rooney 09-10. Don’t know what happened after that.
Between Ruud and Rvp, Ruud edges it for me, I highly rate RvP, his first season's highlights with us, I mean you can watch it all day long, it was just breathtaking. But with Ruud the moment that ball arrived to the penalty box, you knew that we had one hell of a striker ready to finish it off, he was just insane in that area, also his hold-up play and those crosses to either becks/giggsy....
My favorite striker is Rooney, he was the complete player for me.
Rvp ranks in my opinion somewhere behind Rooney, Cole, Yorke, Rvn, you just can't factor in the only good season he had with us and place him right up there with these strikers.
My favorite striker is Rooney, he was the complete player for me.
Rvp ranks in my opinion somewhere behind Rooney, Cole, Yorke, Rvn, you just can't factor in the only good season he had with us and place him right up there with these strikers.
Turned up at today’s press conference. Apparently to interview ETH for BT Sport.
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Ruud Van Nistelrooy. Absolute legend. Very unfortunate that United were no where near in Europe but he was great for us. Brilliant striker and scholes also mentioned that he loved playing with Ruud because of his game style and they could communicate without speaking.
He should have won more but United just didn't have the quality that we had once Rooney and Ronaldo came though and became absolute ballers.
I remember the champions league in 2003-06 where teams like Milan and even Benfica could just play around United. Going out in group stages, second round etc. He needed bit more support.
It's also the truth that we just played better from 06 season onwards with Rooney and Ronaldo with Carrick and Scholes in the middle. The Roma game absolutely changed the face of United in Europe.
Rvn for me is the best striker for United in terms of his quality.
Rvp, just wow, his first season was excellent but once Fergie went off rvp lost his game.
He should have won more but United just didn't have the quality that we had once Rooney and Ronaldo came though and became absolute ballers.
I remember the champions league in 2003-06 where teams like Milan and even Benfica could just play around United. Going out in group stages, second round etc. He needed bit more support.
It's also the truth that we just played better from 06 season onwards with Rooney and Ronaldo with Carrick and Scholes in the middle. The Roma game absolutely changed the face of United in Europe.
Rvn for me is the best striker for United in terms of his quality.
Rvp, just wow, his first season was excellent but once Fergie went off rvp lost his game.
I would go with rooney in 11/12. He was complete striker that season, none of the other strikers had his workrate and aggression
I preferred Rooney in 09/10. He had a bit more pace back then and scored loads of headers. Those 2 games vs AC Milan were incredible. Shame he got injured in the first leg vs Bayern Munich otherwise I think we would've won the league that season.
Is it just me or does our conference room look a bit lacking compared to the other top clubs.
Ruud
This. How quickly people forget.
I really wish we had him for longer during his peak. He was probably the best number 9 i've seen for United. Rooney when he was younger was unplayable, but I wouldn't class him as a nine in the typical sense and he wasn't as consistent as RvP. RvP had that magical ability to create half a yard of space from the defender and score. The best compliment I can give him was that he had the touch of Berba and the fininishing of Ruud.
Rooney and Ruud both definitely better.
Nah, he was great though.
Different room than usual - more press in attendance for this one.
I wonder if you added up total numbers of goals and assists who would win for best striker in one season. Ruud in 2002-03 is an obvious choice but i doubt his assists were high, RVP in 2012-2013, Rooney in 09-10 and 11-12 had good numbers if i remember right.
The reason i'm adding assists is that Yorke got an outrageous number of assists in 98-99. Think it was near the 20 mark and equaled David Beckham's assist tally that season as well as banging in 29 goals overall. Easily one of the best seasons of a striker here.
The reason i'm adding assists is that Yorke got an outrageous number of assists in 98-99. Think it was near the 20 mark and equaled David Beckham's assist tally that season as well as banging in 29 goals overall. Easily one of the best seasons of a striker here.
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