Ruud van Nistelrooy has joined United's coaching staff

Gabriel Djemba-Bebe said:
I firmly believe this as well, but I always feel like I'm in the minority even amongst United fans. Whenever I listen to debates about all time PL strikers, I often get the impression that United fans are too busy fighting Rooney's corner that they forget to bring up Van Nistelrooy. For me, it goes:

1) Ruud
2) Henry
3) Shearer
4) Rooney
5) Aguero
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I agree that’s likely the top five. I can’t say I necessarily agree with the order mind you. But that’s pretty subjective. I think based on talent, Henry is the best of the best. And Shearer was absolutely brilliant, and for so long. But I definitely have Ruud in my top three.

On another note, number six, for me, is probably Andy Cole. A criminally underrated striker by many. His catalogue of goals is phenomenal and in todays game he’d be worth 150m+
 
Insanity said:
That can happen to any manager he is an assistant to.

And ETH is getting a new contract, buddy. He is here to stay for a while.
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Even if EtH gets a new contract it doesn’t guarantee him being here for long. They have to give him a new contract or else he’s a lame duck manager with an expiring contract at the end of the season.

Like I’ve continued to reference, joining Pep or Carlo is a safe career choice, joining EtH not so much. Even if he was joining us as an assistant with a new manager that would make far more sense that joining Ten Hag’s staff especially when he isn’t the lead assistant.

Doesn’t seem well thought out from INEOS at all in my opinion. Just seems like an appointment to sweeten the fans and a lot are falling for the trick already.
 
PSV_fan said:
A lot of people who i spoke who worked at the club or worked with him, described him as an amazing person but tactically insufficient with a capital letter. It surprises everyone that he is in the conversation for a manager role at Burnley and it seems to do more with his iconic status and name in the football world than rather with his qualities as manager. It seems to us that this is also one of the reasons why he is getting this job as an assistant. Although, I have to say i think the role as an assistant suits him more than a manager role in modern football. Yet he still needs a lot to learn.
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He has 64.7% win percentage with PSV and won a cup trophy. Surely, that’s more than enough to be in the conversation for a manager role at Burnley. Not just about his iconic and name in the football world.
 
I’d imagine Ruud would see an opportunity to see the premier league from the sidelines as an ideal benefit to him from a coaching standpoint. See how the league works now and how a manager who’s been here for 2 years handles it. Rather than jumping into a job unprepared, he gets to learn first hand how difficult it is with none of the pressure of getting the sack. Also we have a qualified coach on board to take over if we end up not sticking with ETH.
 
Ruud took the time to learn and grow in coaching, he didn't jump straight into a management job, its not that surprising he would take this type of opportunity to learn even more to prepare himself for a bigger job in the future
 
So much nonsense and weird interpretations on the first pages. Ruud really didn't do particularly well at PSV, lasted less than a year with loads of players and staff members unhappy. Because of his great status en because he's genuinely a great guy PSV left it at 'mutually agreed to end the contract' instead of firing him.

Can't blame him, it's a hard job and so many big name players at Feyenoord, Ajax and PSV have struggled in their first year when they were made head coach. Guys like Van Bronckhorst, Cocu, Van Bommel all needed 'special advisors' like Guus Hiddink, Bert van Marwijk, Dick Advocaat being brought in to coach them in their first year as a manager.

Ten Hag clearly likes Van Nistelrooij, initially he asked Van Persie to become assistent right after his appointment, bur RVP wasn't ready to leave Rotterdam for family reasons and with Ruud willing to come it's pretty much the most similar thing.

Ruud's a fantastic addition, imo this role is much better suited for him at this point in his career than being manager at a relatively meaningless club. I don't think he's ready to take over from Ten Hag within the next 2 years at a club the size of United - but with a little learning and fine tuning he could definitely still become a good manager. He's definitely intelligent and self aware enough to learn more and improve, just like he always did as a player.
 
Assuming ten hag is on board, this would be an amazing appointment. Did okay at PSV, but also a true legend and anybody who's seen him speak in interviews knows he does so well. I imagine he'd have a really positive presence in the sense of commanding respect and raising standards
 
PSV_fan said:
He did do well based on the results. A lot of things happened with some financial restrictions from the board, some keyplayers who had to be sold, etc. It was not an easy year for any trainer who would have had his seat at PSV from that point of view.

However, football tactical and technical wise he didn't do well at all. There was for example not a clear vision in how to play. One match we would press very high and aggresive, another time we would try to dominate and control the possession game. There were also enough matches (most of them) were we would play an old fashioned kick and rush or catenaccio style of play. In modern football this doesn't work. You have to have a clear style of play. Characteristic was an interview in the beginning of the season were he said he wanted to defend like Simeone and attack like Bielsa. You don't have to be rocket scientist to understand that those are two completely different worlds of football which you cannot tactically combine.

And all this was furthermore amplified by the fact that a lot of Ruud's tactical principles were outdated. In possession everything was very rigid. There weren't much vertical runs, the positional formation was very rigid with hardly any rotations, no use of halfspaces, etc. Defensively everything was man-marked which made it easy for opponents to dismantle our defensive structure using simple rotations and runs without the ball. During the whole season, every match there were phases where the length between the striker and last man during pressing/gegenpressing/transition was around 60 meters.

Eventuallty this lead to the situation were a lot of players didn't take him seriously because tactically he wasn't up to the job. Some influential went behind his back to the board to say this could not go any further like this. The board also didn't have a lot of trust in Van Nistelrooij which eventually lead to his resignation. The reason he got the job in the first place is a bit vague and there are a lot of different rumors. What is clear is that the former general manager (who didn't have a lot of football knowledge) clearly had a prejudice for ex-profs from the club instead of measuring people based on their qualities. It is for that reason in the first place Van Nistelrooij got the U19/U18 job and a few years later the U21/U23 job, while it was widely known on the youth side of the club that he wasn't up to this task at all.

A lot of people who i spoke who worked at the club or worked with him, described him as an amazing person but tactically insufficient with a capital letter. It surprises everyone that he is in the conversation for a manager role at Burnley and it seems to do more with his iconic status and name in the football world than rather with his qualities as manager. It seems to us that this is also one of the reasons why he is getting this job as an assistant. Although, I have to say i think the role as an assistant suits him more than a manager role in modern football. Yet he still needs a lot to learn.
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Interesting back ground stuff! It makes it also more understandable how he could be more interested in a coaching spot at United under ETH than a manager role at Burnley. But what do you or others who have followed him at PSV (or Netherlands) think of his candidacy for an assistant coach at Man Utd?
 
JE-365 said:
He has 64.7% win percentage with PSV and won a cup trophy. Surely, that’s more than enough to be in the conversation for a manager role at Burnley. Not just about his iconic and name in the football world.
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Our current manager has a win 59% win percentage with two trophies and half the forum want him to sack!
 
Makes perfect sense. Ruud gets to learn how a big club operates and what the expectations are without any pressure. Some invaluable experience for him.

I remember ETH doing something similar when he went from Utrecht to Bayern II, so that he could study under Pep. Proved to be the correct decision as well.
 
ArmaDino said:
Makes perfect sense. Ruud gets to learn how a big club operates and what the expectations are without any pressure. Some invaluable experience for him.

I remember ETH doing something similar when he went from Utrecht to Bayern II, so that he could study under Pep. Proved to be the correct decision as well.
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Ruud had been at United when we were a bigger club with higher expectations than now
 
Brightonian said:
Always amazing how easily fans are impressed by a bit of jargon or a few diagrams. Essentially 'Jack Fawcett' thinks 'wow, this man whose entire life has been spent at the very highest level of professional football, as a player and a manager, knows some ideas and words I have picked up from seven years of Football Manager and my 'Performance Analysis' BSc.' No shit.
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Completely agree. Not to knock RvN, he might be a great coach, but buzzwords and knowing some tactical setups isn’t really what makes a good coach these days, it’s about getting your host of money rich young men to give their all for you. That’s why I think the former players get the nod so often despite not being ‘qualified’ because they come in with some respect.
 
He’s clearly still got a lot to learn so I’m sticking by my original prediction that he’s earmarked as McCarthys replacement for 1:1 work with the forwards
 
PSV_fan said:
He did do well based on the results. A lot of things happened with some financial restrictions from the board, some keyplayers who had to be sold, etc. It was not an easy year for any trainer who would have had his seat at PSV from that point of view.

However, football tactical and technical wise he didn't do well at all. There was for example not a clear vision in how to play. One match we would press very high and aggresive, another time we would try to dominate and control the possession game. There were also enough matches (most of them) were we would play an old fashioned kick and rush or catenaccio style of play. In modern football this doesn't work. You have to have a clear style of play. Characteristic was an interview in the beginning of the season were he said he wanted to defend like Simeone and attack like Bielsa. You don't have to be rocket scientist to understand that those are two completely different worlds of football which you cannot tactically combine.

And all this was furthermore amplified by the fact that a lot of Ruud's tactical principles were outdated. In possession everything was very rigid. There weren't much vertical runs, the positional formation was very rigid with hardly any rotations, no use of halfspaces, etc. Defensively everything was man-marked which made it easy for opponents to dismantle our defensive structure using simple rotations and runs without the ball. During the whole season, every match there were phases where the length between the striker and last man during pressing/gegenpressing/transition was around 60 meters.

Eventuallty this lead to the situation were a lot of players didn't take him seriously because tactically he wasn't up to the job. Some influential went behind his back to the board to say this could not go any further like this. The board also didn't have a lot of trust in Van Nistelrooij which eventually lead to his resignation. The reason he got the job in the first place is a bit vague and there are a lot of different rumors. What is clear is that the former general manager (who didn't have a lot of football knowledge) clearly had a prejudice for ex-profs from the club instead of measuring people based on their qualities. It is for that reason in the first place Van Nistelrooij got the U19/U18 job and a few years later the U21/U23 job, while it was widely known on the youth side of the club that he wasn't up to this task at all.

A lot of people who i spoke who worked at the club or worked with him, described him as an amazing person but tactically insufficient with a capital letter. It surprises everyone that he is in the conversation for a manager role at Burnley and it seems to do more with his iconic status and name in the football world than rather with his qualities as manager. It seems to us that this is also one of the reasons why he is getting this job as an assistant. Although, I have to say i think the role as an assistant suits him more than a manager role in modern football. Yet he still needs a lot to learn.
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That’s a scathing endorsement if anything. Basically he’s tactically clueless and doesn’t know what’s he’s doing.
 
I think Ruud would be a good addition hopefully we can get it done, also I've never understood the hate Fabrizio Romano gets the guy gets a lot of exclusives he was the first to report this, no?
 
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PSV_fan said:
He did do well based on the results. A lot of things happened with some financial restrictions from the board, some keyplayers who had to be sold, etc. It was not an easy year for any trainer who would have had his seat at PSV from that point of view.

However, football tactical and technical wise he didn't do well at all. There was for example not a clear vision in how to play. One match we would press very high and aggresive, another time we would try to dominate and control the possession game. There were also enough matches (most of them) were we would play an old fashioned kick and rush or catenaccio style of play. In modern football this doesn't work. You have to have a clear style of play. Characteristic was an interview in the beginning of the season were he said he wanted to defend like Simeone and attack like Bielsa. You don't have to be rocket scientist to understand that those are two completely different worlds of football which you cannot tactically combine.

And all this was furthermore amplified by the fact that a lot of Ruud's tactical principles were outdated. In possession everything was very rigid. There weren't much vertical runs, the positional formation was very rigid with hardly any rotations, no use of halfspaces, etc. Defensively everything was man-marked which made it easy for opponents to dismantle our defensive structure using simple rotations and runs without the ball. During the whole season, every match there were phases where the length between the striker and last man during pressing/gegenpressing/transition was around 60 meters.

Eventuallty this lead to the situation were a lot of players didn't take him seriously because tactically he wasn't up to the job. Some influential went behind his back to the board to say this could not go any further like this. The board also didn't have a lot of trust in Van Nistelrooij which eventually lead to his resignation. The reason he got the job in the first place is a bit vague and there are a lot of different rumors. What is clear is that the former general manager (who didn't have a lot of football knowledge) clearly had a prejudice for ex-profs from the club instead of measuring people based on their qualities. It is for that reason in the first place Van Nistelrooij got the U19/U18 job and a few years later the U21/U23 job, while it was widely known on the youth side of the club that he wasn't up to this task at all.

A lot of people who i spoke who worked at the club or worked with him, described him as an amazing person but tactically insufficient with a capital letter. It surprises everyone that he is in the conversation for a manager role at Burnley and it seems to do more with his iconic status and name in the football world than rather with his qualities as manager. It seems to us that this is also one of the reasons why he is getting this job as an assistant. Although, I have to say i think the role as an assistant suits him more than a manager role in modern football. Yet he still needs a lot to learn.
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Sounds like RVN will fit just right in with ETH based on the past season :confused:
 
golden_blunder said:
He’s clearly still got a lot to learn so I’m sticking by my original prediction that he’s earmarked as McCarthys replacement for 1:1 work with the forwards
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I doubt he'd simply just be that. I'm sure this appointment is happening is clearly because everyone at the club can see we need more attacking coaching. We need new ideas and players need to be drilled on them and RVN will do that. There is a misconception that it's the manager that coaches the players in training, it's the coaches and assistants that mostly do it and having the best can change the outlook of the whole team. For example under SAF it was his coaches that handled training and he oversaw it all. That's obviously what INEOS want a world class coaching team that will get the team well prepared. The whole way the team attacks will be part of RVNs remit not merely just working with attacking players and finishing practice etc.
 
devilsadvoca8 said:
I doubt he'd simply just be that. I'm sure this appointment is happening is clearly because everyone at the club can see we need more attacking coaching. We need new ideas and players need to be drilled on them and RVN will do that. There is a misconception that it's the manager that coaches the players in training, it's the coaches and assistants that mostly do it and having the best can change the outlook of the whole team. For example under SAF it was his coaches that handled training and he oversaw it all. That's obviously what INEOS want a world class coaching team that will get the team well prepared. The whole way the team attacks will be part of RVNs remit not merely just working with attacking players and finishing practice etc.
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No obviously but I can’t wait till he works with them individually. Said it last season, I wanted him in to work with Hojlund. There’s things to iron out and no better man to do it
 
Sweet Square said:
Ten Hag played in the midfield for the final. FC Twenty have the full match on their YouTube channel

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Neat. Had to have a quick gander at the shootout to make sure Ruud smashed his pen into the bottom left corner.

He did.
 
big_jeffstar said:
The romanticism of it all is great... but is he the best coach we can find? Surely bringing back club legends is only the right move if they're the best in their field?
I just don't see other clubs doing this sort of stuff, you wouldn't see City appointing Aguero as their attacking coach.
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Yeah a strange level of excitement about it.

Not long back people were putting Rashford's hot streak purely down to Benni Mcarthy, that ones gone quiet.

Experts here also decided McKenna and Carrick were useless coaches.
 
Gabriel Djemba-Bebe said:
I firmly believe this as well, but I always feel like I'm in the minority even amongst United fans. Whenever I listen to debates about all time PL strikers, I often get the impression that United fans are too busy fighting Rooney's corner that they forget to bring up Van Nistelrooy. For me, it goes:

1) Ruud
2) Henry
3) Shearer
4) Rooney
5) Aguero
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Aguero over Kane?
 
big_jeffstar said:
The romanticism of it all is great... but is he the best coach we can find? Surely bringing back club legends is only the right move if they're the best in their field?
I just don't see other clubs doing this sort of stuff, you wouldn't see City appointing Aguero as their attacking coach.
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That’s a daft argument Ruud has managerial experience, I won’t go into detail like the PSV fan earlier in the thread but he’s got a 65% win rating finished second above then champions Ajax and won a cup whilst selling his better players if anything he’s taking a step back

It’s an exciting appointment of somebody who is wanted for various managerial roles
 
MadDogg said:
Personally, I always thought that in pure finishing Ole was even better. Ruud was obviously better at positioning himself to get on the end of chances and in most other aspects of being a striker (especially being a lone #9) so would score quite a lot more, but if I had to pick one of them to be on the end of a chance to save my life, I'd go for Ole.
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Ole was a different player to RVN. Ole could analyse the game at par to a manager. He was very unselfish as well. He was willing to drop deep and sacrifice himself for the team. Add to that decent technique and pace and Ole became the perfect super sub and a potential inside forward on the Right.

RVN was the typical 90s finisher in the mould of a Shearer and a Vieri. These players were born with a killer instinct. A retired Van Basten at age 41 played in a testimonial game for just few minutes (his leg couldn't take it more then that) but that split of a moment was enough for him to score a wonder goal. Ruud had that. He was also the most selfish striker we had throughout SAF's reign. He lived solely to score goals with no care in the world whether we won or lost. In my opinion no one, not even Ole, could match his finishing skills. Put the ball at his feet and there was only one option really.

We need an RVN in our coaching team. He'll help Hojlund and possibly Zirkzee improve their positioning but also to demand the ball more. If Rashford and Garnacho think they can simply ignore the striker with Ruud around then they'll better think again. No disrespect to Mccarthy but he simply lacked the CV to go toe to toe against Rashford. Ruud has that CV and is not someone to mess around.
 
What a huge black mark on his name. How can he be our assistant coach when he didn't master being a head coach in one season, at a time when he didn't feel he was ready. That said, he did win a cup, so maybe after a few seasons he would've turned into Sir Alex. Still, he'll never be as massively successful as Carlos Queiroz was after he left us.
 
simonhch said:
I agree that’s likely the top five. I can’t say I necessarily agree with the order mind you. But that’s pretty subjective. I think based on talent, Henry is the best of the best. And Shearer was absolutely brilliant, and for so long. But I definitely have Ruud in my top three.

On another note, number six, for me, is probably Andy Cole. A criminally underrated striker by many. His catalogue of goals is phenomenal and in todays game he’d be worth 150m+
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He gets overlooked so often which is insane seeing as he only has one penalty included in his 187 league goals which I’m 99% certain only Shearer tops and if you take away penalties Shearer and Cole are only about 15 goals or so apart whilst Shearer also played about 40 games more, always felt Hoddle played a massive part in Cole being so overlooked.
 
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