Great striker. Really adored him! Shame the way it ended.
Ruud Van Nistelrooy
- Thread starter Raoul
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They all played at various times during Ruud's stint at United. Also, Becks was only there for a couple of years before getting shipped out, Keane was past his prime during much of Ruud's time, Veron was only here briefly, and Rooney/Ronaldo we still very young and not as productive as they eventually would become.
Fair to say Ruud was here during a time of one of Fergie's weakest squads and wouldn't been even more dominant if he was with us in the late 90s or late 00s.
That’s not really comparable to the roles Pogba & Bruno have in our current lineup, which was the context that framed my post.
Agreed with Beckham and Veron and I would say Giggs was not at his best during Ruud's time either .
Add to Chelsea becoming a power and we were playing catch up .
Though I would argue Ruud had one advantage in playing in a team built around him with him as their main goal scoring option sometimes to the detriment of supporting strikers.
It's just a strange one with Ruud and I will always feel with him and how we played with him we were predictable and rarely had another option if he didn't score and opponents knew that .
You can only imagine the numbers he'd post at City in the last few years given the amount of square balls and pull backs they play into the 6-10 yard area, not to mention threaded balls between full back and centre back.
Tbf I didn’t take note of what you was originally commenting on I was just referring to the best ever comment. So apologies.
But even then like I’ve said before there’s many above him and those names I mentioned are a couple which wasn’t even in our league or the best strikers in their league. Ruud might be touch and go the best striker but he was never the best finisher.
It's a common misconception about Beckham & Ruud. Sure Becks laid on some lovely crossed for him but Giggs was a more potent supplier for the Dutchman. Watch his goals video, he had a lovely combination going with Giggs.
Round 2: Sneijder says Van Nistelrooy better than Ibrahimovic.
Ruud was better finisher but Zlatan is a much more complete player.
Have a feeling that a lot of Dutch players can't stand Zlatan's quirks, especially because so many of their greats from the 90s and early 2000s are so familiar with him. Of course many of them have a big head themselves.
Watched Ruud show on sky sports during the week. Andy gray in nearly every clip is foaking at the mouth when ever he was commenting on his goals 
When people talk about him now I feel like they've a distorted memory of him and what sort of player he was. He was easily our best outfield player back them first 3 seasons. Absolute powered us to the title on 03.
Some of the best forward play you would see.
great player.
When people talk about him now I feel like they've a distorted memory of him and what sort of player he was. He was easily our best outfield player back them first 3 seasons. Absolute powered us to the title on 03.
Some of the best forward play you would see.
great player.
Absolutely loved Ruud.But in the end,SAF got it right yet again...While Ruud was a great striker,the team was lacking in pace and fluidity whenever he played.We became electrifying after he left....But I will always have a special place for Ruud in my heart...
When people think of Ruud, they assume he was just a goalscorer. Some of his link-up play was quite underrated. I would Ruud over Zlatan, mainly because he was doing it in a stronger league's and for his Champion's League goals.
Not really. There are Liverpool fans all over England who think Gerrard is the best midfielder ever to grace the Prem...
Some people just don’t realise when bias blocks there common sense. I mean you actually think he was a better finisher than those names mentioned. No one in world football but United fans think this.
Crespo - Never scored 30 goals across all competitions in his career. Scored 25+ goals in a season just thrice
Trezeguet - Scored 25 goals or more in a season just twice. Scored 30+ goals in a season just once
Raul- 1 30+ season in his career, scored 25 or more goals in a season 6 times. At the end of his career, his goals/appearance ratio was 0.43
RVN - 6 seasons where he scored 30 or more goals
Wouldn't argue R9 case because I'm certain the argument would go to who the better player was and it's a no contest there (in finishing terms, RVN has more than a decent claim here)
Did you watch Van Nistelrooy at all?
He was one of the best finishers there has been.
Look at the champions league top scorers of all time. (and di Stefano is in there, so this is "European cup" rather than just the rebranded champions league.)
5th.
Look at the top ratios of goals per games 6th
The players above him are all time greats, who played for super dominant teams.
RVN played for us when we were in between our dominant spells.
The guy who played for a lot of teams (Milan, Juve, Inter included), doesn't speak french after some years spent at PSG (sh%t on them) and become invisible during important games since he was at Ajax? Ruud was more than that. He was world class for sure.
Yeah but can Ruud score blindfolded Kung Fu goals from the half way line that resemble Mortal Kombat finishing moves ? Thought not.
I wonder what I'm reading at times.
The other week someone said Cole was as good as RVN.
I loved Cole, but RVN came in and blew his goal record here to oblivion.
And in a weaker team, and usually playing solo.
On the RvP comparison - I would normally attribute this sort of thing to a younger, post-Ruud generation of fans who grew up post 2006ish and saw RvP's evolution at Arsenal then United. But its just bizarre that anyone who saw both of them during their respective primes would not think Ruud was the more clinical goal king.
I didn’t question who was the best striker. I said who was the best finisher. RVN was one of the best strikers of all time. Would I make my son watch him in terms of how to be a good finisher? Not really.. maybe his penalty technique which was the best.. but your ignoring my argument. I’m talking about finishing.
All them stats show is how great those guys were as strikers. Two of them played in Italy which was a harder league to score in, we both know this.
What’s that got to do with his finishing? I’ll repeat he was a world class striker.
What has a massive haul of goals got to do with his finishing?
Probably quite a lot.
What was he "world class" at, if not finishing then?
The whole recency bias is one of the most annoying bits from internet fans.
While some fans will always think the "good old days" were the best, there's too many the other way, always trying to declare the latest as the best.
Saw Robbie Savage trying to declare this year's Liverpool as the best ever Premier league team.
I thought he'd learnt his lesson when doing the same a week before they went out of Europe and the FA cup and also lost to Watford.
I've no idea why I'm still arguing. Forget it
Thank god. The discussion ended last week.
Maybe go on and watch some matches and videos for Zlatan first. Besides, this doesn't mean Ruud wasn't a world class player. He was also a better finisher, but Zlatan just had more tools in his arsenal and overall he was more complete, that's all.
I miss Ruud.
You've said earlier on in this thread that Michael Owen was a better finisher than Ruud. I think nobody should take you seriously after this. It shows you haven't got a clue what your talking about.
No offense, but you're simply wrong. Ruud is demonstrably a better finisher than all of those you mention except R9, who you can't really judge because his game wasn't about finishing, and he was the best player in the world. I'll give you him.
But Ruud's output is factually better than Crespo, Trezeguet and Raul. Miles better.
Raul's best ever season with Real - when they had a team of absolute wonder, he scored 32 goals. Ruud went to Madrid after burning out at United towards the twilight of his career, and scored 33.
Raul is better than Ruud in every way . I would only put C Ronaldo above Raul in terms of Real's greatest forward over the last 30 years and even then it is debatable
Your son wont be a good finisher f you avoid showing him players like ruud
Not sure if serious.
Shearer was a better finisher than Owen, he could score any goal, and he did it for years then came back from horrific injury and was still a top centre forward.
So why is he not a better finisher than R9? Just saying. I mean your facts back him up for Raul and to beat Raul is to also beat R9 for Madrid and yes that R9 was not the one that was on another level but.. take his Dutch league record... R9 out performed him by 1 goal. So it wouldn’t be outlandish for you to also claim he’s a better finisher than R9 if you consider the latter having a far superior skill set.
Go ask Real Madrid fans who was the better striker between Raul and Ruud ?
Again, is your point that extremely biased Madristas believe Raul to be their greatest striker? If so, cool, that's fine. I was quite a big Welbeck fan for a while there.
But it doesn't change the fact that Raul categorically was not their best striker, emotions aside. Or ever as good as Ruud at his peak.