Quote:
Originally Posted by Silas "Subpoena" Awaketh
Yes, we played a lot of free-flowing football during Ruud's last season! I mean the creative central midfield pair of Alan Smith and Darren Fletcher, Ryan Giggs on one flank, and z0mfg Ronaldo on the other was a sight to behold! Also, we had a one-eyed Paul Scholes. From the right we had John O'Shea providing pin-point crosses, and from the left it was Sylvestre bombarding forward! Who can forget the late off the bench contributions from Richardson! I mean, phew!
You are absolutely right, it was Ruud's slow game that pulled us back.
I mean, he then went to probably the most unstable clubs of all times, a new team, a new management, a new country and barely scored 35 goals while being the top scorer in the league in his first season and in the CL as well till the time Madrid were in it! Anyone can do that, isn't it? Real would've won the title without him anyways!
Yes, we were too reliant on him, always expected him to score (which he rarely did). Now, that is not the case. It is not one player scoring 40 goals while none of the other scored 20 now, is it? We were too predictable then, but now, see, no one know who'd score for us. That's so deceptive!
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Heh.
Go and watch the games where Ruud played, whether that be in his first season or his final season here - well, not so much his first - and you'll see what I mean. It's nothing to do with Ruud's 'slow game', fact is he thrived on getting the ball as close to goal as possible and which meant others having to put it on a plate for him (for want of a better term, he was special at what he did).
It worked well at the time because we had Beckham, once he went things started to go downhill due to others not having the same ability as he did to create the sort of chances Ruud needed. But put Ruud in our side now, who is going to create chances for him? Ronaldo will almost always come inside instead of putting a cross in, same goes for Giggs these days as well as Nani, and he's hardly going to get on the end of a Scholsey through ball.
We play through teams now, it's a more technically blessed side who like to play little balls here and there and work their way through. Our forward line and team in general requires a better footballer, quite simply - taking nothing away from Ruud, he is/was the best goal-scorer around.
I wasn't having a go at him, just making the point that as he came to the end here, we started to suit a different style of play which has progressed into what it is now. Ruud and Huntelaar type players are great if you can provide them with the right sort of service as we did a few years back, but these days our game is a lot different.
It's a pointless discussion anyway, as it would only affect us if Huntelaar came in to be 1st/2nd choice, which won't be the case.
For those reasons, I'd prefer someone who could both fit in with how we play now and give us a different option. Saha can do that but he's never fit, which means we need to spend.