Why is Ruud van Nistelrooy so disrespected?

[adexkola]

Ok this is getting on my nerves. Familiar behavior from United fans, which grates me the more.

Fantastic striker, extremely efficient in front of goal, and was an integral part of a title winning United team in 2002-03. Went to Madrid and won another two titles.

However his name usually gets mentioned as an epithet for describing strikers who "don't do more than score" and as a result "hold their teams back".

Why? Because he had the misfortune of playing for probably the shittiest team Ferguson managed since Sky invented football/the PL in 1992. Blame it on Ferguson/The Glazers/Gill... We really had a mix of inconsistent talent and crap supporting RvN between 2003 and 2006.

And people annoyingly put our improvement in 2006 on getting rid of RvN. If you think a prime RvN in between Rooney and Ronaldo would have done much worse than Louis Saha, you don't know football.

Imagine a prime Ruud in front today instead of Martial.

I planned for this to be cohesive but it's also a rant so go figure. Stop disrespecting RvN by making him the example for great players that "hold their teams back"

Rant over for now

 

[Dan_F]

Who’s doing that? He’s one of the best strikers I’ve ever seen play for United.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Best proper CF I've seen at United and among the best ive seen in general. He wasn't a hinderence he was unlucky to have to drag a not so good United team. Brilliant striker.

 

[Witchking]

These are people who have never seen him play. One of the absolute best for United and one of my best players ever. Love Ruud.

 

[JPRouve]

Who’s doing that? He’s one of the best strikers I’ve ever seen play for United.

In the Haaland thread some are making negative parallels with Van Nistelrooy. Seemingly not realizing that Van Nistelrooy was a great player and fairly complete.

 

[Nick7]

Fantastic player, I think the narrative comes from us becoming an even better team after he left.

 

[King Azaz the Unabridged]

And people annoyingly put our improvement in 2006 on getting rid of RvN. If you think a prime RvN in between Rooney and Ronaldo would have done much worse than Louis Saha, you don't know football.

I mean, apart from the bit where he was by all accounts a bit of a bully to Ronaldo off the pitch. And a large part of our 2006-08 attack was the versatility of Saha/Rooney/Tevez that allowed Ronaldo to play with the freedom he did.

Van Nistelrooy was an incredible player, unlucky to play for us in the period between two great teams. We also improved without him in a way that may not have happened with him as a fixture in the XI, just because of his style of play. Both of these things can be true at the same time.

 

[Desert Eagle]

Ruud Ruuud Ruuud Ruuud

 

[adexkola]

Who’s doing that? He’s one of the best strikers I’ve ever seen play for United.

Many

I don't want to name names yet

But do a search on here

In the Haaland thread some are making negative parallels with Van Nistelrooy. Seemingly not realizing that Van Nistelrooy was a great player and fairly complete.

It's not just the Haaland threads. I've seen it over the years. Somehow without Ruud in 2005 we would have won the double or something

 

[Red Shorts]

He made me properly fall in love with United as a young lad. I would always cheer his goals the most out of any player.

Where on earth are these negative comments coming from? Never had one person say RVN was a mediocre player in my life.

 

[Man-United]

We would have won the league in 2001-02 WITH Ruud, played great football with him in the team but sir Alex kinda gave it away by resting the whole first team during the first part of the season.

 

[68cob]

you don't know football

This get's on my nerves.

 

[Wonder Pigeon]

He was maligned around the time he left United because the team definitely did benefit from moving him on, and the fans mostly sided with Ronaldo in their falling out. He seems mostly remembered fondly now though, thought most United fans wish him well managing PSV?

 

[Red in STL]

If he played for this team today then they'd just hand us the PL title now - that's how good he was

 

[prateik]

Who is disrespecting him? The best pure striker I have seen play for us.. absolute goal machine..
Real shame we were going through a transition and didnt win enough.. What a striker..

 

[adexkola]

I mean, apart from the bit where he was by all accounts a bit of a bully to Ronaldo off the pitch. And a large part of our 2006-08 attack was the versatility of Saha/Rooney/Tevez that allowed Ronaldo to play with the freedom he did.

Van Nistelrooy was an incredible player, unlucky to play for us in the period between two great teams. We also improved without him in a way that may not have happened with him as a fixture in the XI, just because of his style of play. Both of these things can be true at the same time.

He was nasty to Ronaldo, but I think if he was in his prime SAF would have found a way to accommodate both instead of shipping one off.

I don't think it's a given that 2006-07 doesn't happen with him in the team. We're talking about a season where Saha was injured for at least a third of the time and we had to loan Larsson

 

[MrSingh2002]

Best striker that's been at United in the last 30 years.

 

[Robertd0803]

He was fantastic and everyone that watched him loved him.

But him leaving coincided with Ronaldo/Rooney/Tevez and Saha being sensational plus the fact he left under a bit of a cloud probably contributes to his legacy not getting as much shine as he probably deserves these days.

I dont think we would have become what we were from 2006 onwards if he was still playing for us mind you.

 

[Gavinb33]

Ok this is getting on my nerves. Familiar behavior from United fans, which grates me the more.

Fantastic striker, extremely efficient in front of goal, and was an integral part of a title winning United team in 2002-03. Went to Madrid and won another two titles.

However his name usually gets mentioned as an epithet for describing strikers who "don't do more than score" and as a result "hold their teams back".

Why? Because he had the misfortune of playing for probably the shittiest team Ferguson managed since Sky invented football/the PL in 1992. Blame it on Ferguson/The Glazers/Gill... We really had a mix of inconsistent talent and crap supporting RvN between 2003 and 2006.

And people annoyingly put our improvement in 2006 on getting rid of RvN. If you think a prime RvN in between Rooney and Ronaldo would have done much worse than Louis Saha, you don't know football.

Imagine a prime Ruud in front today instead of Martial.

I planned for this to be cohesive but it's also a rant so go figure. Stop disrespecting RvN by making him the example for great players that "hold their teams back"

Rant over for now

Glazers came in 05 he was gone by 06 its hard to blame them for anything to do with the teams he played in, the season after they took over we won the league

 

[Frosty]

Scored a half decent goal against Fulham from what I remember...

 

[Irwin99]

Fantastic player, terrific hold up play/touch, and there's a fair argument to make that he came here at a time of transition where Keane's powers were diminishing, the central defence and full backs weren't sorted, and Becks was leaving. Also, like Ronaldo perhaps, his direct 'rival' Henry was a player who just had more to his game and was the more magical player in people's memories. Maybe that's held against him?

...Also a bit of a sulker and a person focused on his own glory but sometimes you put up with that.

 

[Frosty]

He was fantastic and everyone that watched him loved him.

But him leaving coincided with Ronaldo/Rooney/Tevez and Saha being sensational plus the fact he left under a bit of a cloud probably contributes to his legacy not getting as much shine as he probably deserves these days.

I dont think we would have become what we were from 2006 onwards if he was still playing for us mind you.

Saha was on fire for the first half of 06/07 too. He offered something different than Ruud in terms of movement, especially off the ball movement, opening space for the other attackers.

 

[Gehrman]

People just lean on comparisons all the time. He's one of the best strikers ever at United but people focus on his end here rather than the rest.

 

[Man-United]

Scored a half decent goal against Fulham from what I remember...

2003, the start of our comeback to win the title. Also great goal against Arsenal in the offside game were Martin Atkinson gave them two goals.

 

[FlawlessThaw]

Prime and motivated Van Nistelrooy would be an asset for any team in the world.

 

[Man-United]

His real name is Rutgerus Johannes Martinus, superb.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

In the Haaland thread some are making negative parallels with Van Nistelrooy. Seemingly not realizing that Van Nistelrooy was a great player and fairly complete.

Yup. RVNs general play was miles ahead of Haaland's.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

2003, the start of our comeback to win the title. Also great goal against Arsenal in the offside game were Martin Atkinson gave them two goals.

My favourite football match and season ever.

 

[Man-United]

My favourite football match and season ever.

Hard to beat, gotta be 2002-03 or 2006-07/2007-08 in terms of quality.

Start of 02-03 not so much though haha.

 

[Robertd0803]

And people annoyingly put our improvement in 2006 on getting rid of RvN. If you think a prime RvN in between Rooney and Ronaldo would have done much worse than Louis Saha, you don't know football.

He wasnt really in his prime in 2006 though, certainly not off the pitch with the issues with Ronaldo and I dont think we ever would have had the same fluidity in attack if he stayed. Its not really a coincidence that when we changed the focus of the attack from one focal point to 3 interchangable options things picked up massively. (Obviously not taking in to account Vidic/Evra/Carricks arrivals but certainly from an offensive point of view our improvement did coincide with him leaving.)

 

[Fortitude]

Good thread, to be frank.

Ruud's name gets dragged through the mud the farther we get from the time he was active. He was a demi-god at that time, but has become some sort of figure for denigration over the last few years.

One part of the OP that's not right is that Saha did completely change how the whole team played, but what should also be in the discussion is that Ruud had made himself untenable so Fergie had no real interest in working out how to get him playing with Ronaldo because he knew whose basket to place the proverbial eggs going forward.

 

[Robertd0803]

Saha was on fire for the first half of 06/07 too. He offered something different than Ruud in terms of movement, especially off the ball movement, opening space for the other attackers.

Exactly. Where as when Ruud was playing nearly everything went through him.

 

[Red in STL]

Hard to beat, gotta be 2002-03 or 2006-07/2007-08 in terms of quality.

Start of 02-03 not so much though haha.

A better season than 1999?

 

[Reiver]

He's one of my all time favourite players, I always felt confident he would score if he had a chance.
I've sometimes been a bit shocked at the negative attitudes towards him that I've read on here.

 

[led_scholes]

2003 RVN was not holding back the team. But he got a bit slower. Even with Real he was not close to his 2003 Wc status. And I think people underestimate how good Saha was (or rather how good he could be if he was not made of glass).

 

[mu4c_20le]

Good thread, to be frank.

Ruud's name gets dragged through the mud the farther we get from the time he was active. He was a demi-god at that time, but has become some sort of figure for denigration over the last few years.

One part of the OP that's not right is that Saha did completely change how the whole team played, but what should also be in the discussion is that Ruud had made himself untenable so Fergie had no real interest in working out how to get him playing with Ronaldo because he knew whose basket to place the proverbial eggs going forward.

Thought there were many of these already, I'm sure. People who blame him for trophy drought or not enough either have bad memories or weren't there at all

 

[Man-United]

A better season than 1999?

In terms of attacking football yes imo.

 

[Red_Aaron]

He had a bit of a tude towards the end but is not doubt a product of his single minded pursuit of winning which is what made him such a great goalscorer

Love ruud, watching him in our shirt was a genuine privilege

 

[adexkola]

He wasnt really in his prime in 2006 though, certainly not off the pitch with the issues with Ronaldo and I dont think we ever would have had the same fluidity in attack if he stayed. Its not really a coincidence that when we changed the focus of the attack from one focal point to 3 interchangable options things picked up massively. (Obviously not taking in to account Vidic/Evra/Carricks arrivals but certainly from an offensive point of view our improvement did coincide with him leaving.)

I get that he was past his prime.

I'm also saying that it was the main factor in him being shipped off. Not his style of play. He in his peak would have worked in that 2006-07 side.

His name usually gets mentioned as the prototype of "striker gets his, team suffers" and I get increasingly bewildered.

 

[CallyRed]

Tell us names who is disrespecting him and I'll sort them out