Ronaldo's starting 11 debut

Bastian

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Half that team is world class outside of Ronaldo, but more glaring weaknesses as well.
 

BuzzKillington

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Using the formation we have now;

———————DdG——————
Neville - Varane - Rio - Shaw
———Keane - Scholes———
Greenwood - Bruno - Giggs
——————Ronaldo————-

So about the same with a fairly even split.
 

OleBoiii

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Nah.

The defense is better now, but look at that fecking midfield and attack!

EDIT:
Not hating on the current team. I'm just respecting our legends. So much world class in there.
 

Flying high

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Not for me. Keane, Scholes and Butt would boss our current team.

I was there that day though and we made really hard work of the game. The lift that Ronaldo's entrance gave us really helped.

The ground was buzzing after the game. While it's true he developed his game massively with us, his talent was undeniable from day one.
 

Tarrou

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wouldn't that be Ole on the right with Scholes in a midfield three?

I don't remember Scholesy ever playing on the right wing
 

Trequarista10

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2003 was better. Keane, Scholes, Giggs, Rio and Ruud would walk into our team now, Shaw, DDG and possibly Bruno from the current team do the reverse. The other 3 it's a coin toss.
 

edcunited1878

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Nope. Only DDG, Shawberto, and either Varane or Maguire (but not both) get into that team.

I'd keep Phil at RB, draft in Maguire, Shaw, and David. In order to keep those midfielders and CFs, I'd go full diamond and take my chances.
 

432JuanMata

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That Bolton game was something special never been so excited by a player ever. Even then I never seen him hitting anywhere near the heights he did
 

UnofficialDevil

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I'm not anti Scottish, I just wanted Moyes out.
Not for me. Keane, Scholes and Butt would boss our current team.

I was there that day though and we made really hard work of the game. The lift that Ronaldo's entrance gave us really helped.

The ground was buzzing after the game. While it's true he developed his game massively with us, his talent was undeniable from day one.
Absolutely! It was like magic! You could tell he was so different, special from those first 30 minutes. I'll never forget it. I was over feeling depressed about Beckham leaving after that match.
 

Aboutreika18

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People tend to forget how we went into that season with Ole as our starting RW, after his good form in that position displaced Beckham at the end of 2002/03.

Would've been interesting to see how differently things turned out if Ole hadn't got that knee injury early in the season. It lead to not only Ronaldo but also Fletcher playing a lot more than Fergie probably had initially planned for them.
 

RetroStu

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Stick Keane and Scholes in out current team and man, we would be some team.
 

mu4c_20le

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Keane Butt double pivot.. forgot how negative Fergie was back then
 

always_hoping

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The leaders and pure winners on that 2003 side. This current side hopes to have plenty of winners in the years and a experienced Ronaldo to play his role in that
 

MF1138

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We were supposedly in transition then. Jaysus.
We were. Nicky Butt was on his way out. Roy Keane didn't have much left either. Ole was pretty much injured the whole time. We didn't win the league for three years, at which point the team was dramatically different.
 

KetilOwren88

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So many world class players, yet a few big flaws. A weird line up to witness. The interesting thing is that in the next great Fergie team 07-09, most of these players were gone.
 

Sandikan

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This was our starting 11 when Ronaldo debuted in 2003



Better team debut now?
There's 5 all time premier league greats in there.
I wonder how many we could bracket in that in our current line up.
A few definitely have the potential for sure.
The current team definitely has some strong players.
 

MattofManchester

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No.

Who would you replace there with members of our current team?
I count 6 or 7 in that team that you cannot displace.
Talent-wise, sure, our current team is better, but in terms of reliability and consistency, current team pales.
 

Alex99

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Phil Neville, Mikael Silvestre and Quinton Fortune in our back four :nervous:

Also, I'm fairly sure we lined up like this:

-----------------------Howard
Neville--Ferdinand--Silvestre--Fortune
Solskjaer------Butt------Keane------Giggs
-------------------------Scholes
--------------------------RvN
 

The holy trinity 68

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Using the formation we have now;

———————DdG——————
Neville - Varane - Rio - Shaw
———Keane - Scholes———
Greenwood - Bruno - Giggs
——————Ronaldo————-

So about the same with a fairly even split.
Not a chance does Greenwood get in over RVN or Ole. Put Ronaldo where Greenwood is and RVN where Ronaldo is.
 

cyberman

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Phil Neville, Mikael Silvestre and Quinton Fortune in our back four :nervous:

Also, I'm fairly sure we lined up like this:

-----------------------Howard
Neville--Ferdinand--Silvestre--Fortune
Solskjaer------Butt------Keane------Giggs
-------------------------Scholes
--------------------------RvN
Thats a poor side looking at it now.
 

Berbasbullet

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Phil Neville, Mikael Silvestre and Quinton Fortune in our back four :nervous:

Also, I'm fairly sure we lined up like this:

-----------------------Howard
Neville--Ferdinand--Silvestre--Fortune
Solskjaer------Butt------Keane------Giggs
-------------------------Scholes
--------------------------RvN
Correct. Ole benched Becks with his performances and Scholes played off the top for one season and banged in the goals.
 

led_scholes

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That 2003 back 5 was truly awful, apart from Rio. Weaker competition then, meant an easy top 4. Despite the glaring weaknesses, with a fit Ole and a not punished Rio, we would be more closer to the league, than what we actually ended then.
 

Hammondo

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Using the formation we have now;

———————DdG——————
Neville - Varane - Rio - Shaw
———Keane - Scholes———
Greenwood - Bruno - Giggs
——————Ronaldo————-

So about the same with a fairly even split.
Seems fair.
 

FrankDrebin

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That team was in decline , the transition did start with Ronaldo though.

I know the 2003 team were coming off the back as league Champions but Arsenal really did gift us the league in that season.
 

11 forwards

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Ronaldo, Brunaldo, Pogbaldo and Jadon Saldo gonna go goataldo goaldo.