Ruud Van Nistelrooy

[GuybrushThreepwood]

For what it's worth, as an opposition fan of Blackburn who were a Premier League club during all 5 of Van Nistelrooy's seasons at Utd (and we had a pretty good record against Utd during that period), I've never been so terrified when an opposition striker has had the ball in or around the penalty box as I was when the ball came to his feet or head. What a lethal finisher. In his first 2 seasons at Utd, he racked up 72 goals in the Premier League and Champions League.

I was devastated for him when he suffered that cruciate ligament injury in the training at PSV and we could hear him screaming in pain on the TV clip. That scuppered his dual dreams of a move to Utd during the summer of 2000 (of course we didn't know when or how well he'd recover from that injury at the time and whether he could make that move a year later or at all), and of a chance to play for the Netherlands on home soil at Euro 2000 (he had to wait 4 more years to play in a major international tournament). Thankfully he made a full and successful recovery, got his dream move a year later, and the rest was history.

 

[Pughnichi]

Hands down our best striker that I’ve known (watching since 1990)

shame he was with us during transitional years when Rooney and Ronaldo we’re still very young

...and he wasn’t here all that long either.

150 goals in 219 appearances. Epic

 

[Striker10]

Ruud was class until he lost his head a bit. I think Beckhams sale was a big moment for him. As is, to sell so cheap shows how dumb we have been down the years

 

[Raoul]

The US tour goal in 2003 was sublime

 

[thepolice123]

 

[Reddevil1978]

He was so good I expected him to score every single game. Absolutely clinical.

 

[chomsky89]

No chance. Ole was great in front of goal for sure, but Ruud was the most clinical I’ve ever seen, anywhere.

"Solskjaer is the best finisher I've ever trained" - Ferguson in his bio.

 

[Snuffkin]

RVN was unreal. He was right to be frustrated we were failing in the CL against inferior sides. Crap goalkeepers galore.

 

[thepolice123]

Ruud was class until he lost his head a bit. I think Beckhams sale was a big moment for him. As is, to sell so cheap shows how dumb we have been down the years

He got incredibly eogistic towards the end. His rivalry with Henry also made him selfish and abit of drama queen. I remember at the peak of their rivalry he was so desperate for goals every game that he would sulk if he didn't get one. I think it was the Everton game, he scored a tap-in to make it 4-1 and he ran over to the assister going, "thank you, thank you, thank you!"

 

[Thiagoal]

Absolutely loved RVN you just knew when the ball fell to him it’d end i the net! The thing that I always think whenever he’s mentioned though is that he wasn’t a great team player and that when more limited players played ahead of him (e.g Saha) our team play and fluidity went up a notch.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

"Solskjaer is the best finisher I've ever trained" - Ferguson in his bio.

SAF didn't need to train Ruud -- his finishing is already that best.

 

[madzo2007]

The US tour goal in 2003 was sublime

The pass from Veron was sublime. I remember being excited when we were supposed to sign him in 2000 and was gutted it fell through because he couldn't complete the medical due to his knee. He was a goal machine especially from 2001-2003 but as someone said above Beckham leaving and Ronaldo's being inconsistent at that time really affected him.

 

[Park's Petrified Pooch]

Without doubt the most clinical finisher we’ve ever had. No-one in my lifetime has come close to his movement and instinct for the correct position to take up and the correct method of finish. Talk of his ego was overplayed. Standard United rumblings when the boss wanted to move someone on. Criminal to let him go when we did. He was still ruthless for another couple of seasons with Real.

 

[Ish]

One of my all time fav United players.

 

[Champagne Football]

He was voted the best player in the Premier league in his first season 2001/2002. Never won the Champions League during his time at Utd. Scoring a winning goal in a Champions League final may have made him surpass or put him on a par with Denis Law.

I remember thinking we were guaranteed to win the Champions League again once we signed him, but it never happened.

 

[Foxbatt]

The pass from Veron was sublime. I remember being excited when we were supposed to sign him in 2000 and was gutted it fell through because he couldn't complete the medical due to his knee. He was a goal machine especially from 2001-2003 but as someone said above Beckham leaving and Ronaldo's being inconsistent at that time really affected him.

Thank you very much for posting this. Veron was unplayable during this tour. And then SAF sold him. I was gutted.

 

[Ace Krampus]

Another one of my all time favorites. I wish my jersey still fit but 2005 was many, many beers ago.

 

[lsd]

Fantastic finisher and I loved his hunger for goals but we discovered we need more than a forward who just scores if we wanted the team to play well and win trophies year in year out .

 

[Raoul]

Was looking for the Martin Tyler commentary on this clip.

"The Premiership pendulum has swung back to Manchester"

 

[thepolice123]

Was looking for the Martin Tyler commentary on this clip.

"The Premiership pendulum has swung back to Manchester"

Here you go.

 

[Raoul]

Here you go.

Love it. Far better with Tyler's commentary imo.

Henry is a lucky boy VAR didn't exist then.

 

[lsd]

"Solskjaer is the best finisher I've ever trained" - Ferguson in his bio.

Yeah Ole would be my choice he was ice cool in front if goal never seemed to miss the target and scored against everyone regardless off how long he was on the pitch .

 

[2 man midfield]

Here you go.

Always liked that blue kit

 

[Madridista2000]

Ruud was class until he lost his head a bit. I think Beckhams sale was a big moment for him. As is, to sell so cheap shows how dumb we have been down the years

He carried Real Madrid especially in 2006/07 season and won us the league. Won the league again in the following season. I remember him as world class striker at Real Madrid. Was even better at United. One of the best in Europe as well.

 

[Beachryan]

My favourite player growing up, and the best true striker I've seen at United. Real pity he was never surrounded by a fully great team, because at his peak he was undoubtedly the best player in our XI. Better than Scholes, Giggs and Ferdinand. His touch was flawless, his movement was the best in the world at the time, obviously his finishing was there, but he was also big, strong, quick and an absolute competitor.

He came right in between both squads and, to be honest, SAF's attention. He was, imo, taken for granted while Fergie was trying to build something new and different.

He's admitted himself that he lost a bit of the motivation at United, which I'm sure is partly why he moved on. But there was something pure about his role that for me rang truer than the absolute phenom that Ronaldo became. Irrational, obviously, but something about the aesthetic of the way he played: receive the ball, perfect touch, move it out wide, create space, finish.

I can absolutely understand the people that say we were right to move him along so that Ronaldo could flourish, but I'll always feel we sold both him and Beckham far too early. Also think Rooney would have been a better player behind Ruud than anyone else. But hey ho, we did alright after the sale

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

How so ? Ruud had a 44 goal year to RvP's 30. Numbers aren't of course everything, but that's a fairly big gap to overcome.

That explains enough. Ruud had Beckham, Scholes & prime Giggs with him to provide him service for goals. Who did RVP got? Cleverley & Welbeck.

Best finisher. Most clinical striker. Unfortunately it doesn’t mean best striker.

 

[Raoul]

That explains enough. Ruud had Beckham, Scholes & prime Giggs with him to provide him service for goals. Who did RVP got? Cleverley & Welbeck.

Best finisher. Most clinical striker. Unfortunately it doesn’t mean best striker.

Except that RvP had one good year for us while Ruud was consistently good his entire 5 years, average 30 goals a year during his time here.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

Except that RvP had one good year for us while Ruud was consistently good his entire 5 years, average 30 goals a year during his time here.

Did I misinterpret it? The poster said RVP in that season was better than Ruud and then you brought up the 40+ goals. That’s where I decided to come out with my initial post. Oh either way, Cantona is still better than Ruud as a striker, if I have a 433 formation for United XI, I would had placed him over Ruud in that striker role, wouldn’t you?

 

[Bojan11]

Was very unfortunate he only got to play two seasons with Becks. Then you had Keane, Giggs and Scholes in their 30s or entering their 30s.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

That explains enough. Ruud had Beckham, Scholes & prime Giggs with him to provide him service for goals. Who did RVP got? Cleverley & Welbeck.

Best finisher. Most clinical striker. Unfortunately it doesn’t mean best striker.

Didn't we also have Rooney and player of the year Valencia in RVPs great season? Possibly Giggs too? And Carrick who had his best ever year? Also, his season most definitely dipped towards the fag end.

IMO RVN was clearly better. In his best season and of course overall.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

Didn't we also have Rooney and player of the year Valencia in RVPs great season? Possibly Giggs too? And Carrick who had his best ever year? Also, his season most definitely dipped towards the fag end.

IMO RVN was clearly better. In his best season and of course overall.

Not sure why are you mentioning Valencia. That was the season when Valencia wore the no 7 and had terrible season that he decided to swap the no back to 25 the next following season. Player of year Valencia was 2011/2012 not 2012/2013. I don’t know why you even dare to mention 38 years old Giggs when I mentioned prime Giggs in RVN’s case.

So that’s it? Rooney & Carrick and one of them wasn’t really a provider, more a deep playmaker. I could also add Roy Keane & Veron if you are going to include 38 years old Giggs & Carrick.

Just look at his number, Beckham left and his number went down. Imagine if he is in the 2012/2013 season instead that he had to expect Rooney, off form Valencia, 38 years old Giggs and duo Welbeck & Cleverley to provide him the service.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Not sure why are you mentioning Valencia. That was the season when Valencia wore the no 7 and had terrible season that he decided to swap the no back to 25 the next following season. Player of year Valencia was 2011/2012 not 2012/2013. I don’t know why you even dare to mention 38 years old Giggs when I mentioned prime Giggs in RVN’s case.

So that’s it? Rooney & Carrick and one of them wasn’t really a provider, more a deep playmaker. I could also add Roy Keane & Veron if you are going to include 38 years old Giggs & Carrick.

Just look at his number, Beckham left and his number went down. Imagine if he is in the 2012/2013 season instead that he had to expect Rooney, off form Valencia, 38 years old Giggs and duo Welbeck & Cleverley to provide him the service.

No, that's obviously not it. The 2002/03 team scored 86 league goals on route to winning the league with a points tally of 89. The 2002/03 one scored 74 league goals while hitting the 83 point mark. While on paper I'd prefer the 03 team, and that season was by far the more memorable one, the point is that you can't merely pick up players/team mates/numbers like for like and compare them to those from a different decade. If we are using team mates to big up RVP then we have to acknowledge the fact that the team was a more free scoring one as well, which contradicts the "service" point.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

No, that's obviously not it. The 2002/03 team scored 86 league goals on route to winning the league with a points tally of 89. The 2002/03 one scored 74 league goals while hitting the 83 point mark. While on paper I'd prefer the 03 team, and that season was by far the more memorable one, the point is that you can't merely pick up players/team mates/numbers like for like and compare them to those from a different decade. If we are using team mates to big up RVP then we have to acknowledge the fact that the team was a more free scoring one as well, which contradicts the "service" point.

You just said you can’t merely pick up numbers like for like and compare them to those from different decade and yet you compared the number of league goals scored & points in those two seasons. I think it’s fair to say playing with better team mate can make the players perform better as well especially for a striker like Ruud’s type.

I even mentioned that Ruud’s performance is worse when we lost Beckham than the ones when he had Beckham. However, you ignored this important point.

I’m not just judging both of them based on numbers or team mate alone, I used them to make point that Ruud is a more a pure no 9 than a complete striker like RVP. This where I mentioned he’s the best finisher & most clinical striker but not the best striker overall. Ruud needs someone who can provide him the service to perform at best while RVP can create his own to still perform at his best. However, you didn’t get the message that I was trying to send.

 

[Pughnichi]

You just said you can’t merely pick up numbers like for like and compare them to those from different decade and yet you compared the number of league goals scored & points in those two seasons. I think it’s fair to say playing with better team mate can make the players perform better as well especially for a striker like Ruud’s type.

I even mentioned that Ruud’s performance is worse when we lost Beckham than the ones when he had Beckham. However, you ignored this important point.

I’m not just judging both of them based on numbers or team mate alone, I used them to make point that Ruud is a more a pure no 9 than a complete striker like RVP. This where I mentioned he’s the best finisher & most clinical striker but not the best striker overall. Ruud needs someone who can provide him the service to perform at best while RVP can create his own to still perform at his best. However, you didn’t get the message that I was trying to send.

Oh my days. RVP ahead of Ruud!! This is a wind up right?...

you suggest Ruud can’t create his own. Errrm Fulham.

 

[devilish]

"Solskjaer is the best finisher I've ever trained" - Ferguson in his bio.

Sir Alex also said that Dong had the attributes to become the next Batistuta. Managers are people just like you and me. They are not infallible. Also they tend to have a bias towards people they like (ex Ole) vis a vis people they don't like (ex RVN). RVN was one hell of a selfish player whose only concern was scoring goals. However there's absolutely no doubt that he was our best finisher.

 

[lsd]

Oh my days. RVP ahead of Ruud!! This is a wind up right?...

you suggest Ruud can’t create his own. Errrm Fulham.

When he smashed his elbow into an opponents face before going on his run . VAR would certainly disallow that now

 

[Black Adder]

Barthez

Yeah, still can't believe we've had that joker as a goalkeeper

 

[L1nk]

Best striker we've had yes, unfortunately he came to us in a period where we had a lot of crap behind him, considering his record he should have had far more trophies with us than he actually got.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Who would people say is better RVN or Lewandowski?

That’s a good question.

 

[Beachryan]

That’s a good question.

Really is, don't think Lewandowski can ever be considered a true great as he never pushed himself to move to Spain or England, where there is a real jump in quality from the Bundesliga, particularly in defending.

Obviously did well in the CL, but for me needs to have played at the very top if you want to be in consideration.

Similar player to Ruud though, for sure.