Although I am Holland and Man Utd supporter I feel that Ruud Van Nistelrooy is slightly overrated. He may well be a great preadator in front of goal but overall I feel he is somewhat lacking. He has no obvious pace or skill and I don't believe I have ever seen him score from outside the penalty area. In his defense he does hold the ball up well and is good in the air, but he has previously been compared to the likes of Thierry Henry who for me is much better striker.
Yes, he is not as quick or skilled as others like Henry. But if you need someone with true instinct for scoring, he's the man. He can take almost any situation in the box and score. His goals against finland are a perfect example of this
Ask his worst critics about his goal against Fullham last year... he outran 4 defenders on a 50meter run. He also is an excellent passer when given the chance and just because you have not seen him dribble someone does not mean he can't you don't watch enough of him if you think he cant dribble. His dribbling is quite underrated, as is his speed - he is probably as quick with the ball at his feet (as opposed to just hitting it yards in front of you and running) as Henry due to his superb close control. I will concede that his shooting from distance is lacking... he shoots hard enough, but he just never seems to take that many shots from outside the area... not his style as United have always played with a withdrawn striker (who would get those opportunities)... but that's not a sufficient excuse for none of his 128 goals for the club to have come from outside the area.
he has skills and toughness, he has decent pace and he has scored from outside the area this is pretty silly folks
Do you remember years ago when Holland played a friendly against Brazil (in Brazil)? It was one of Ruud's first games for Holland and he was absolutely brilliant, dribbling past defenders and showing great, great skill, doing things like backheeling the ball into the goal. I also remember for PSV he scored a number of wonder goals, again displaying great skill. For ManU he doesn't seem to do that anymore - I think he's been pressured into a system over there. As for pace - it's pace on the ball that counts the most, and he's got plenty of that. But the absolute best quality of Ruud is his mentality, his sheer determination to score. The man's a fighter, he'll push, kick, and even cheat to win - that's very un-Dutch but it's what other strikers like Kluivert and Makaay are lacking.
Van Nistelrooy plays down hip injury: http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-van_nistelrooy&prov=reuters&type=lgns