United Team of the Decade

From the years 2000 - 2010.

Here's mine:

GK: Edwin Van Der Sar

After Schmeichel we struggled to find another 'keeper of reliable consistency. Barthez had his good moments, but made too many ridiculous errors. Van Der Sar not only made the winning save in Moscow, but has been superb all-round since he came to United. Fergie said we should have signed him in 1999, and I agree.

LB: Patrice Evra

Not a very difficult choice this one for me. After the torture of watching Mikael Silvestre stumble up and down the left flank its been good to have seen Evra develop into a world class left-back over the last few years. He might not be at his peak right now, and Fabio could be knocking on the door soon, but Evra is the best we've had since Irwin.

CB: Rio Ferdinand

The defence is a tough one but there's no way I can leave out Rio. He's been the best defender we've had over the last decade. Now in his 9th season at United he's still integral to our success and brings a calmness and discipline to our side that nobody else can. 2003-04 was a disaster, and so was the contract dispute that followed, but he's more than made up for everything IMO. I don't think he gets the praise he deserves, mainly because he's a jarring wobble-lipped cockney, Twitter obsessed moron; but by the time he's finished he could go down as one of the best defenders we've ever had.

CB: Nemanja Vidić

This was a toss-up between Vidic and Jaap Stam, but Vidic gets it for longevity. Stam had two outstanding seasons at United, then injury and a dodgy book bought everything to an end all too soon. Vidic has grown and grown since we signed him, his partnership with Rio Ferdinand has become arguably the strongest in Europe and his individual displays have led him to become the club's captain. He's probably the best centre-back in the world right now.

RB: Gary Neville

To be honest I'd stick Neville in here just for that celebration against the Scouse alone, but he's also been a great player over the last decade and beyond. Approaching the twilight of an excellent career now, but he's unquestionably the best-right back we've had under the Fergie regime. Rafael has big shoes to fill.

RM: Cristiano Ronaldo

Best United player of the last decade. nft.

CM: Paul Scholes

Now in his 17th season for the club and he's still arguably the most important player in the squad. There's not much more you can say about Paul Scholes, but he fits into a small bracket of elite players that cannot be replaced. £#%&! what he did for England, they're useless, for Man United he has continued to produce flawless performances of the highest quality.

CM: Michael Carrick

Controversial choice, maybe, but Michael Carrick was instrumental in United winning three titles on the spin and another European Cup. He slipped into the United first-team effortlessly and seemed to have no problem with filling the gigantic boots in central midfield left by Roy Keane. His performances may have dipped in recent years, but his contribution to our most successful period of the last decade cannot be overlooked.

LM: Ryan Giggs

Peter-Pan @#%&!. Grow old ffs. The rest of us have to. He'll probably be in the next team of the decade as well. Legend, and for me, the greatest United player of all time. He's pretty much my hero, and has been for 20 years.

CF: Ruud Van Nistelrooy

The best goal-scorer I've ever seen at United. When he was one-on-one with a 'keeper I've never been more confident in a player scoring. Just look at his record. 150 goals in five seasons, that's an average of 30 a season. People seem to forget that he scored 44 goals in 2002-03. Forty-four?! Absolute goal machine. Its a shame his partnership with Rooney wasn't given a real chance, it would have been immense.

CF: Wayne Rooney

Scouse @#%&!.

No Roy Keane? Are you on crystal meth?

Roy Keane of 2000/01, 2001/02, 2002/03, 2003/04 > Michael Carrick of 2006/07, 2007/08, 2008/09, 2009/2010. I like Carrick but he doesn't come close, Keane was still immense in those seasons.

Originally Posted by elephantstone

No Roy Keane? Are you on crystal meth?

Left him out for Carrick in the hope of trying to cause some controversy.

Still though, Keane won three league titles in the last decade - 2000, 2001 and 2003. Carrick has also won three, and a European Cup.

Carrick also helped the team move on when Keane left, and he proved instrumental in our most successful period of the last decade. That's why I stuck him in there.

Obviously in the wider scheme of things Keane was by far a greater, more influential and important player, but I'm disregarding everything that happened before 2000.

Yeah i'd probably swap keane for Carrick, that's about it though. Team pretty much picks itself.

Here's a link to Sid Lowe's article on his Real Madrid team of the decade which gave me the idea for this thread.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...eXI/index.html

McManaman.

with keane in for carrick that's our best 11 players position by position. not sure it would all work together, though, in reality. would rooney and ruud work as a pair? maybe, it's not an obvious combination though unless you think rooney works best as a no 10. with ronaldo playing almost as a striker a lot of the time and not exactly being the hardest worker, defensively speaking, would him and giggs together and two up top not leave us exposed in midfield?

Originally Posted by borsuk

with keane in for carrick that's our best 11 players position by position. not sure it would all work together, though, in reality. would rooney and ruud work as a pair? maybe, it's not an obvious combination though unless you think rooney works best as a no 10. with ronaldo playing almost as a striker a lot of the time and not exactly being the hardest worker, defensively speaking, would him and giggs together and two up top not leave us exposed in midfield?

Not if giggs tucked in as he does now, then if we let ronaldo do whatever he wants, we'd almost be a 4-3-3.

With giggs tucked in it would allow Keane and Scholes just to sit and control (obviously depending what scholes we want, 03, or 2010 version)

Originally Posted by borsuk

with keane in for carrick that's our best 11 players position by position. not sure it would all work together, though, in reality. would rooney and ruud work as a pair? maybe, it's not an obvious combination though unless you think rooney works best as a no 10. with ronaldo playing almost as a striker a lot of the time and not exactly being the hardest worker, defensively speaking, would him and giggs together and two up top not leave us exposed in midfield?

Ruud and Rooney would have worked great IMO. They were good during the short time they had to play together. Rooney dropping into the whole behind a penalty box poaching Ruud sounds formidable in theory.

I suppose that midfield may get exposed, so perhaps we could switch to a 4-3-3 with a midfield three of Keane, Carrick and Scholes playing behind Rooney, Ronaldo and Ruud.

Just feels wrong to leave Giggsy out though.

vds
nev
rio
vidic
paddy
ginger prince
giggs
ronaldo
keane
rooney
van nist

Gary Nevilles "approaching the twilight of his career"?

the shit tached @#%&!s been finished for 3 years

VDS

Neville
Rio
Vidic
Evra

Keane
Veron

Ronaldo
Scholes
Giggs

Ruud

Same as yours, but Keane for Carrick. Keane in the early 2000's was superb.

It's about 11 players too, rather than a side that would work together. I think those are the oustanding players in their respective positions in this decade.

Originally Posted by elephantstone

No Roy Keane? Are you on crystal meth?

Keane has to be in.

Originally Posted by The Watcher

VDS

Neville
Rio
Vidic
Evra

Keane
Veron

Ronaldo
Scholes
Giggs

Ruud

Don't give a shit about his form this season, but no rooney Rooney should be in it more than ruud.

Originally Posted by History

Don't give a shit about his form this season, but no rooney Rooney should be in it more than ruud.

he's doing it on purpose!

I tried doing an all-time United XI.

£#%&!ing impossible.

We're lucky to support United.

Originally Posted by Menace

I tried doing an all-time United XI.

£#%&!ing impossible.

We're lucky to support United.

Probably had Beardsmore instead of Best tbh hallucinating.

Originally Posted by Part 36 Offer

he's doing it on purpose!

I thought about putting Cole, Sheringham or Forlan in his place , but settled for this team. Be perfect for Europe tbh and Ruud’s easily the best striker we’ve had at the club since Eric.

Originally Posted by The Watcher

I thought about putting Cole, Sheringham or Forlan in his place , but settled for this team. Be perfect for Europe tbh and Ruud’s easily the best striker we’ve had at the club since Eric.

bantz overload!