Our most clinical finisher ever. Our best striker ever.
Discuss
Discuss
Ruud Van Nistelrooy
- Thread starter Raoul
- Start date
Probably yes to your first sentence.
No to your second.
No to your second.
Just behind Denis Law as the most gifted technical finisher to play at the club since the 50/60's, can't praise the guy higher than that.
I just crossed you off the 'Who shot Kennedy?' list.
Most clinical finisher probably. Best striker no. I would say Fergie s last year RVP was better than RVN.
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's probably not a bad shout but it's close.
I've never seen someone as lethal as Ruud but whether he's best maybe depends on what you want from your forward and maybe your age (Law, Taylor).
For what it's worth, I have Ruud in my AT XI regardless of a lot of people's alternative, Rooney, and their rationale of stats/all-round play. I like my centre forward to score goals, end of ... though to be fair, Ruud could run the channels, hold it up a bit and technically good enough to assist. (And he never shagged a granny or drove pissed)
I don't have the best of memory - whilst I remember him perfectly in the PL, how was he for us in Europe?
Wiki. he is the sixth-highest goalscorer in UEFA Champions League history with 56 goals. He is a three-time UEFA Champions League top scorer, as well as a top scorer in three different European domestic leagues
38 in 47 for us (Europe)
Wow that's class!
He was a proper predator goalscorer to me, he would just somehow always seem to be in the right place at the right time whilst we'd supply him.
Whilst we complain about players not making runs and stuff now- Van nistelrooy's never seemed to make runs to me because he'd be so ahead of the defender's game to just always kind of be there, making the right little movements to find space away from someone's back etc.
Then he would just finish it off. He made everything look very simple.
Best finisher I've seen at United.
Last edited:
Before Ronnie and Messi came along, the CL top all time top scorer list was it was a battle between Raul and Ruud for a bit.
Last edited:
Pretty sure that Ruud has the best goals to games ratio for us ever.
Better than Rooney, Best, Law, Charlton, Taylor, Viollet...
Yes.
Taylor had a slightly better goals-to-games ratio than Ruud. If I recall correctly, the Top 5 for players with at least 100 goals was:
1. Taylor
2. van Nistelrooy
3. Violett
4. Law
5. Cassidy
My favorite player growing up.
It's a shame how it ended with us. He's one of the greatest poachers of all time, and a good all time striker. Should be remembered as one of the premier strikers of his era.
It's a shame how it ended with us. He's one of the greatest poachers of all time, and a good all time striker. Should be remembered as one of the premier strikers of his era.
I was gutted when he left. He had at least another two years left in the tank.
Best CF I've seen play for Manchester United.
Rvp was also excellent particularly for that one season. And Rooney is of course one of the best all round players we've seen. But as the lead striker, Ruud was just incredible. With every other striker you hope he'll score. With him, you knew he'd score. It was just the expected thing. And his hold up play was also good.
Rvp was also excellent particularly for that one season. And Rooney is of course one of the best all round players we've seen. But as the lead striker, Ruud was just incredible. With every other striker you hope he'll score. With him, you knew he'd score. It was just the expected thing. And his hold up play was also good.
I saw a list with goals per minute on the field instead of games.
Then it was
1. Solskjaer
2. Van nistelrooy
3. taylor.
Solskjaer, of course, has more "fresh" minutes on the field, but still impressive for a guy that never took penalties and played RM for a season(Beckham injury)
Maybe Taylor got subbed less than RVN making him slightly behind per minute.
This is a thread I can get behind. Absolutely loved Ruud, before and after his time at Madrid.
They just don't make them CFs like they used to.
They just don't make them CFs like they used to.
Definitely impressive for someone who wasn't the primary striker and made a lot of individual sacrifices! However, and I may be wrong about this, Solskjær trails van Nistelrooy (and Hernández if we get rid of the minimum threshold) for goals scored per minute by United forwards over the last 25-ish years.
Edit: According to fbref's records (league only as the Champions League + domestic cup archive is incomplete, Solskjær may well have a superior rate across all competitions than some of them):
van Nistelrooy: 0.69 league goals per 90 minutes (95 total in 12356 minutes).
Chicharito: 0.69 league goals per 90 minutes (37 total in 4844 minutes).
van Persie: 0.63 league goals per 90 minutes (48 total in 6810 minutes).
Ibrahimović: 0.60 league goals per 90 minutes (17 total in 2544 minutes).
Solskjær: 0.59 league goals per 90 minutes (91 total in 13857 minutes), coincidentally this is the same ratio as Yorke, Cole and Berbatov!
P.S. Overview for the wider Premier League era:
Agüero: 0.84 league goals per 90 minutes (180 total in 19182 minutes), also has the best goals + assists ratio at 1.07 per 90 minutes.
Kane: 0.75 league goals per 90 minutes (136 total in 16251 minutes).
Salah: 0.75 league goals per 90 minutes (70 total in 8419 minutes).
Henry: 0.73 league goals per 90 minutes (175 total in 21499 minutes).
Kane: 0.75 league goals per 90 minutes (136 total in 16251 minutes).
Salah: 0.75 league goals per 90 minutes (70 total in 8419 minutes).
Henry: 0.73 league goals per 90 minutes (175 total in 21499 minutes).
Most clinical finisher ever - definitely
Best striker ever - debatable, nope
Best striker ever - debatable, nope
Wow Chicharito
Key thing the number of times I heard ‘van nistelrooy again’. He had so many doubles for us in games.
They do, very rare but that's why I'm annoyed we missed out on Haaland.
Great player. Had limited team success whilst he was at Utd - compared to other Fergie teams.
single minded, brilliant striker. “One nil Van Nisterooy” was a commentators standard phrase. Really disappointed how it all ended, but at least he and Fergie have reconciled some what.
his debut was brilliant, and then I knew we had a special player - players from the Dutch league are hit and miss for every RVN there’s a Kezman.
single minded, brilliant striker. “One nil Van Nisterooy” was a commentators standard phrase. Really disappointed how it all ended, but at least he and Fergie have reconciled some what.
his debut was brilliant, and then I knew we had a special player - players from the Dutch league are hit and miss for every RVN there’s a Kezman.
I know a lot of people say Ruud was our most clinical finisher, but I'd actually give that title to Ole. Ruud was obviously better at getting chances to score so would score quite a lot more overall, but if you to give one of our strikers an opportunity to score with everything on the line I'd want it to fall to Ole every time.
Let's not forget this masterpiece. Wish the quality was better.
Will take him after batistuta
van Nistelrooy and Veron signing in the same summer 
But without doubt the most clinical striker I’ve ever seen at United
But without doubt the most clinical striker I’ve ever seen at United
Who would people say is better RVN or Lewandowski?
Never warmed to him but there is no doubting he was a great forward.
No chance. Ole was great in front of goal for sure, but Ruud was the most clinical I’ve ever seen, anywhere.
He would be in packed boxes with hardly an inch to move and he’d find the one spot the ball could go in. His finishing was unbelievable.
Agree
I'd agree with this.
Great Great striker
I cannot believe Real took him off us for about 10mil
Daylight robbery!
I cannot believe Real took him off us for about 10mil
Daylight robbery!
My favourite player ever and the reason why I became a united fan. Easily the most clinical striker in the post-Muller era. And that goal vs Fulham- it just doesnt get talked about enough. Not just the run but the way he finishes by opening up his body and tucking the ball in the bottom corner in one single move.
His contribution gets underestimated because we didnt win a lot then. Not only was a great finisher, his hold-up play was superb, he made some really great runs and had superb football IQ.
His contribution gets underestimated because we didnt win a lot then. Not only was a great finisher, his hold-up play was superb, he made some really great runs and had superb football IQ.
The best finisher I've seen. I still remember his two goals against Deportivo from half chances.
And his improvised toe poke finish against Juventus:
Tried that move all the time in Winning Eleven.
And his improvised toe poke finish against Juventus:
Tried that move all the time in Winning Eleven.
The best finisher I've seen. I still remember his two goals against Deportivo from half chances.
And his improvised toe poke finish against Juventus:
Tried that move all the time in Winning Eleven.
Barthez