Greatest Manchester United team ever?

Alex Ferguson was rejoicing yesterday after Manchester United held their nerve to seal the Premier League title for the 10th time. Next up is Moscow in nine days - and Fergie is convinced that United will go on to beat Chelsea to become kings of Europe. He said that United are bouncing into the final after the win yesterday, and that it would be a different story if they had lost the title on the final day like they did back in 1995. Now however Sir Alex has stated that if United go on to win the European Cup, it will be his best United side ever.

So what are your thoughts? Is this Manchester United team the best Fergie has built? Are they better then the Treble hero's of 1999?

As a team the the 99 one was the best imo. It was a slightly different time then. The EPL wasn't the best league in the world. English teams struggled technically and tactically against Italian and Spanish teams in particular that were full of superstars. Now it's a bit different, with England having the best league and the teams are more tactically aware in Europe than in years past.

Individually the 08 class might be better, but as a team 99 were better.

to be honest all this comparison talk annoys me. its widely accepted that comparing players and teams from different eras is pretty much impossible. although we are only talking 9 years ago and 14 years ago if we are mentioning the 1994 team those were very different times as BMJ rightly says.

its just nonsense and teams should be judged on their own merits and not having immediate comparisons brought up the moment success dawns. how can he say that this team is the best ever if they happen to win that one game? is that really all greatness rests on? one game? if they win penalty shoot out they are the best ever but if they lose they are not?

whatever

but then what can we talk about Steely . We have topics all over this forum in the same vein .....how does the Premier Legaue compare to Serie A , is the state of English football worse than in 1966 , would Man Utd and Chelsea dominate the Italian League ..?

It is natural that comparisons will be made on subjects , but i agree it is often difficult ...like the question is Alex Ferguson the greatest ever manager ..

In reply to this Steely, if United had not scored those 2 late winners in the 1999 European Cup final, would they have still been regarded as on of the best Manchester United team's ever? Unfortunately it does come down to trophies won, and if United do win this cup, they will be one of only 3 Manchester United teams ever to acheive this. If they don't, then they will just be another Manchester United team who have managed to win the Premier League.

It is like a boxer....one fight can be the difference between that boxer becoming legendry or not! Could all come down to one lucky punch!

woah there. i wasnt saying the thread is useless!! i am more talking about Ferguson's comments where he was doing the comparison and how he seems to suggest it will only be determined by the one game against Chelsea.

people are free to compare and contrast as much as they like! i just dont understand the criteria for such comparisons that is all. perhaps if the thread flourishes and some decent arguements are given then i can become educated.

The key point here is the person making the comparison, Sir Alex, is the ONLY person with a true feel for the relative quality of the various squads he has put together in the 20 years he has been in the job. If he says it's his best squad EVER, then who can argue with that? In my opinion, standards are now so high in the EPL, higher than International standards, that the top sides are bound to be far superior than teams of 5, 6, 7, 8 years ago and longer.

Whether or not it is the greatest squad.....the question posed by the thread......now that is an entirely different question. The 'Busby Babes' will be considered by many to be the greatest Manchester United squad EVER, on the other hand, others (and my personal choice) may think the team containing the legends Charlton, Law and Best, the first winners of the European cup are the greatest Manchester United team ever.

I think this United team is the best one in my lifetime,back in '99 and'94 etc,the challengers weren't as strong as they are nowadays,Chelsea and Arsenal are very strong now whereas back in the treble season Arsenal were the only team capable of stopping them,Arsenal were very strong back then but this season United had 2 massive teams challenging them

The way Fergie has raised the bar again is just amazing,when Mourinho arrived it looked like he was finished,but he quietly built a new team and blew Chelsea away again,so for me this is the best United team i've seen (unfortunately)

well i do not think it is better than the 1999 treble winning side , from what i remember that side was feared before every game .....the team had won the game almost before they went onto the field . They were relentless ......did not matter if they were 3-0 up ...they wanted to score more . They never had the word lose in their system ......goals came from everywehere .. A team getting a point from them was considered unbelievable then ..

The team today is not quite that good .....teams do not fear them ....they may not be able to stop them winning but they have given a good account of themselves and often had periods where they have been the better team ...Man Utd have also struggled many times during the season , only the usual never say die attitude from Man Utd have prevented them from defeat on more than one occasion .

So for me the answer is a big no....!!

I think you are over estimating the team of 1999 Conner - yes they are United legends, and probably the best team of my life time, however to say that people thought it was unbelievable when teams got a point against them is madness. They drew 13 times that season with 3 losses, scoring 80 goals, with 37 against.

This season they have scored the same amount of goals, but only conceded 22 goals, losing 5 games, but only drawing 6 times. United have won 27 games this season, whereas in 1999 they only won 22 games. In the league, this is by far a more impressive season for United stats-wise

bah ....statistics ... . ok...so they may have conceded fewer , won more games ...etc . But i dont think this Man Utd team has that aura of invincibility that the 1999 team (in my opinion) seemed to have .

Maybe i exaggerated the `unbelievable` bit ...but i remember it was a shock to see Man Utd get anything other than win .....


I hope you used Football.co.uk to get those statistics ....

For me personally its the 94 side. We narrolwly missed out on a treble and 2 of my favourite Utd games were played in that season too 2-3 at City and 3-3 at Liverpool. Ince, Keane and Robson in midfield, along with the irrepressible Cantona and Hughes, Bruce and Pally at the back. Utd were strong, powerful and skillful.

Just had to point out that you were wrong that's all mate
Statistics are there to be used and that league table doesn't lie. I think United were feared more during the mid 90's.

They have been great this year but im not sure if you are able to say they are the best Man United team of all time. They only just won the league and they might not beat Chelsea in the CL. So for me they are not the best Man United team ever. I dont know what the greatest team was, but i know this isn't it...

If you don't know which team is better Jac how can you say they are not the best. Sir Alex Ferguson disagrees with you.

Ofcourse i can say this is not the best and not name a better one. Have you seen EVERY Man United team play. Have you f*ck. All i know is that they have not been the best Man United team i have seen.
If you listen to his interview after the game yesturday you would know when he was asked if this was his best team he said no. Even if he said it was, why would he be right. He could have just been gettin the players confidence up. Plus hes gettin old so he might not remember the old days

LOL......Poor ole Alex Which is the team that have you seen that you think is better then? He actually said that if this team win the Champions League, as well as the league, this season.....then he will consider them to be his best ever squad.

It is a better team/squad, but at the end of the day they should be assessed on their achievements.

This is probably the best ever Chelsea team but they may not win anything.

Well as i said above, they only just won te league and they might not win the CL. I dont know which is the best but i know that this one isn't. If it was they would have won the league much easier. Thats all i can say because i am too young to have watched and judged his early team.

Fair enough, but I think most people will agree, and Ryan Giggs has touched on this in an interview after the Wigan game, it is becoming increasingly harder, year on year, to win the EPL, because the standards just keep getting higher and higher every new season. Even King Kev has suggested that it is impossible for the rest to catch up with the BIG 4. This would suggest that the current crop of United players are the best ever.