The current Man Utd team vs the 1999 Treble-winning team.

I read this a few weeks ago:

John O'Shea admits the current crop of Manchester United players are 'daring to think' about emulating the 1999 Treble-winning team.
The versatile Irishman feels the 2007 team compares favourably with the 1999 vintage in terms of talent, but accepts there is less experience in the present squad.

He added: "They probably had more experience in terms of age.

"In particular the four strikers we had then were proven, which is the only thing this squad is lacking.

"But in terms of talent, this team is up there."

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I don't think Man Utd can win the treble because it is a very difficult thing to achieve and i believe the Premiership and Champions League is a lot harder to win now. But this got me thinking, is the current Man Utd squad as good as the Treble-winning squad. I have my opinions on this but I would like to find out yours, do you agree with John ‘The Cat’ O'Shea?

Which team has got the better goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, strikers and overall which team is better? I have picked the same number of players so it is easier to compare.

Goalkeepers
1998/99: Schmeichel, Van Der Gouw.
2006/07: Van der Sar, Kuszczak.

Defenders
1998/99: G.Neville, Stam, Johnsen, Irwin, Brown, Berg, May, P.Neville.
2006/07: G.Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, O'Shea, Brown, Silvestre, Heinze.

Midfielders
1998/99: Beckham, Keane, Scholes, Giggs, Blomqvist, Butt, Greening.
2006/07: Ronaldo, Carrick, Scholes, Giggs, Park, Fletcher, Richardson.

Strikers
1998/99: Yorke, Cole, Solskjaer, Sheringham, Cruyff.
2006/07: Rooney, Saha, Larsson, Solskjaer, Smith.

Man Utd Team 1998/99

Premiership
. . . . . . . . . . . . P . . W . . . D . . L . . . F. . . A . . . PTS
1. Man Utd . . 38 . . 22 . . 13 . . 3 . . 80 . . 37 . . 79
2. Arsenal. . . 38 . . 22 . . 12 . . 4 . . 59 . . 17 . . 78
3. Chelsea . . 38 . . 20 . . 15 . . 3 . . 57 . . 30 . . 75

Fa Cup
3rd Round: Man Utd 3-1 Middlesbrough
4th Round: Man Utd 2-1 Liverpool
5th Round: Man Utd 1-0 Fulham
6th Round: Chelsea 0-2 Man Utd Replay
Semi-final: Arsenal 1-2 Man Utd Replay
The Final: Man Utd 2-0 Newcastle United

Champions League
Group D
.. . . . . . . . . . . PTS
1. Bayern . . . . 11
2. Man Utd . . . 10
3. Barcelona. . . 8
4. Brøndby. . . . 3

Quarter-final: Man Utd 3-1 Inter
Semi-final: Man Utd 4-3 Juventus
The Final: Man Utd 2-1 Bayern

Batman wrote:
Premiership
. . . . . . . . . . . . P . . W . . . D . . L . . . F. . . A . . . PTS
1. Man Utd . . 38 . . 22 . . 13 . . 3 . . 80 . . 37 . . 79
2. Arsenal. . . 38 . . 22 . . 12 . . 4 . . 59 . . 17 . . 78
3. Chelsea . . 38 . . 20 . . 15 . . 3 . . 57 . . 30 . . 75

A conservative side even back then...

I dont think this team will do a treble , if they just win the premiership I will be happy.

I think this team is arguably more pleasing on the eye than the 1999 one. Still say that side had more desire, leadership and heart though.

That side would find a way to wear ours down.

Differences are obvious

Roy Keane

and

a Consistent strike partnership ..

put it like this, will United win the treble this season? I don't think so

Luis wrote:put it like this, will United win the treble this season? I don't think so

I agree.

Roy Keane himself said the 1994 double winning team was the 'best' he has played with .. OK Keane's opinion is not final, but that just says ..

You don't have to win a 'treble' to be the better team .. maybe on paper its glamorous ..

@ Luis

August 1998 - nobody ever in their wildest dream believed or even dare think Manchester United will win the treble, SAF hoped the side will just win the League from Arsenal.

as the season goes and and win after win .. the dream, maybe become a reality (the dream is born around March/April time)

However, i doubt they will this season.

Rai Krol wrote:Roy Keane himself said the 1994 double winning team was the 'best' he has played with .. OK Keane's opinion is not final, but that just says ..

You don't have to win a 'treble' to be the better team .. maybe on paper its glamorous ..

@ Luis

August 1998 - nobody ever in their wildest dream believed or even dare think Manchester United will win the treble, SAF hoped the side will just win the League from Arsenal.

as the season goes and and win after win .. the dream, maybe become a reality (the dream is born around March/April time)

However, i doubt they will this season.

so you're whole point before it is irrelevant

13 Draws

Luis wrote:
so you're whole point before it is irrelevant

Your whole point...

Luis wrote:

Rai Krol wrote:Roy Keane himself said the 1994 double winning team was the 'best' he has played with .. OK Keane's opinion is not final, but that just says ..

You don't have to win a 'treble' to be the better team .. maybe on paper its glamorous ..

@ Luis

August 1998 - nobody ever in their wildest dream believed or even dare think Manchester United will win the treble, SAF hoped the side will just win the League from Arsenal.

as the season goes and and win after win .. the dream, maybe become a reality (the dream is born around March/April time)

However, i doubt they will this season.

so you're whole point before it is irrelevant

They wont do it

but is not impossible

There's a difference.

Saintsarama wrote:

Luis wrote:
so you're whole point before it is irrelevant

Your whole point...

It's okay, you have a quota of 3 corrections a week.

yes, and so they cant be as good if they don't win the treble, therefore no they are not as good as the 1998/99 team

Luis wrote:yes, and so they cant be as good if they don't win the treble, therefore no they are not as good as the 1998/99 team

Is that the benchmark of how Manchester United teams are based?

I think this team is arguably more pleasing on the eye than the 1999 one

Ronlado?

So that team was the best club team ever?

Fair enough.

No. the post is comparing the team of 98/99 to the team now, if you don't think this team is capeable of winning the treble then they can not be as good, simple.

Luis wrote:No. the post is comparing the team of 98/99 to the team now, if you don't think this team is capeable of winning the treble then they can not be as good, simple.

There are factors.

explain Rai, I don't quite understand your arguement

I think people are misunderstanding this post.

i am not asking if the current team can win the treble.

i want you to compare the quality of the two squads and not just the first XI.

like i said before, the Premiership is a lot harder to win now in IMO, the same can be said about the Champions League too.

well if this team can't win the treble this season then what makes them better than the treble winning team?

@ Batman

as i said; two differences

Roy Keane

and

a Consistent deadly strike partnership.

Luis wrote:well if this team can't win the treble this season then what makes them better than the treble winning team?

Ask your self this:

1. Man Utd challengers in the Prem and Fa Cup:

Arsenal
Chelsea
Liverpool - not Fa Cup

are these teams better now or better in 1998/99?

2. in 1998/99 the Champions League was:

Group stage > Quarter-finals > Semi-finals > Final

now the Champions League is:

Group stage > First knockout round > Quarter-finals > Semi-finals > Final

does more games/teams make the Champions League harder to win?

Schmeichel >VdS
1999 Defenders < 2007 Defenders
1999 Midfield > 2007 Midfielders
1999 Strikers > 2007 Strikers

IMO 1999 squad was better, but they weren't all that good.

sheva7 wrote:

IMO 1999 squad was better, but they weren't all that good.

So a team that can comeback against Juve in there own back yard, match Barca home and away, knock out Inter isn't all that good?

Parks lives wrote:

sheva7 wrote:

IMO 1999 squad was better, but they weren't all that good.

So a team that can comeback against Juve in there own back yard, match Barca home and away, knock out Inter isn't all that good?

you forgot to add, not lose to Bayern home and away in the group stage then beat them in the final without Keane and Scholes.

Juve played without Del Piero and finished 7th in the league. You can't deny you were extremely lucky to beat Bayern in the final. They created several chances to open a two goal difference. I also consider that they finished the league just one point ahead of Arsenal. I'm not denying that you deserved to win it all.

Utd players seemed to think that they were as good as di Stefano's Madrid our Pele's Santos. Utd had some world class players like Schmeichel, Keane, Giggs and Stam, but IMO they weren't as good 2006 Barcelona for example.

I forgot to add that Ronaldo didn't play the first leg and was out of form in the second. Btw they finished 8th in the league. Mighty Inter and mighty Juve had to play the Intertoto in the following season.