It's a bold claim but...

[Rodders]

At full time last night, I was thinking..... Is this the best United team I've ever seen? (1989 onwards before you 70's old farts all chip in )

Certainly technically without a question this is the most talented group of players United have ever had. Every single United player is so comfortable on the ball its unreal; we have centre halves adeptly performing 1-2's with cultured midfielders and at ease with getting crosses in the box.
Where there may be a debate is the heart and spirit when compared to say, Bassett's 90-92 team and the 02/03 side - but to comprehensively take apart this Wolves team a few days after the high of the Derby takes some doing. It would have been easy to slack off and blame it on the day after the Lord Mayor's Parade.

I was thinking of the other top Div 2 sides we've had in my lifetime (89/90, 97/98, 02/03, 05/06) - and I think the others all had "better" individual units IMO:
GK: either 89/90 or 97/98
Defence: 97/98
Midfield: Close, it's a gnat's chuff between 02/03 and this season's - possibly 02/03 might just pip it due to the cup runs
Attack: either 89/90 or 97/98

But where this team excels is the unity - this side is clearly more than the sum of it's parts - the interchanging that they all can do on the ball gives them the edge over all the others in my view.

 

[SwissBlade]

Best side i've seen

 

[FleaPitBlade]

I typed as much last night then deleted it. Since thought about it. Conclusion? Yes.

 

[Revolution]

Too early to say, but I hope you're right.

 

[Ron_Justice]

I know one thing, I've never thought to my self 'this is brilliant stuff' as often as I do now and I started out standing on the Kop

As you were.

 

[JohnDenver]

Best team I've seen and certainly the most fluid. Stick Deane and Agana up top and we'd crush the lot.

 

[boo radley]

At full time last night, I was thinking..... Is this the best United team I've ever seen? (1989 onwards before you 70's old farts all chip in )

Certainly technically without a question this is the most talented group of players United have ever had. Every single United player is so comfortable on the ball its unreal; we have centre halves adeptly performing 1-2's with cultured midfielders and at ease with getting crosses in the box.
Where there may be a debate is the heart and spirit when compared to say, Bassett's 90-92 team and the 02/03 side - but to comprehensively take apart this Wolves team a few days after the high of the Derby takes some doing. It would have been easy to slack off and blame it on the day after the Lord Mayor's Parade.

I was thinking of the other top Div 2 sides we've had in my lifetime (89/90, 97/98, 02/03, 05/06) - and I think the others all had "better" individual units IMO:
GK: either 89/90 or 97/98
Defence: 97/98
Midfield: Close, it's a gnat's chuff between 02/03 and this season's - possibly 02/03 might just pip it due to the cup runs
Attack: either 89/90 or 97/98

But where this team excels is the unity - this side is clearly more than the sum of it's parts - the interchanging that they all can do on the ball gives them the edge over all the others in my view.

I keep arguing this point again and again. It is not better than the sum of its parts.
CW AK and the coaching staff have added new "programs" to their brains that make them perform better. My car is 130BHP. Plug a computer into it and it can go to 175 BHP without altering the parts.
They were playing as professional footballers elsewhere and thought they were playing to their best. Our staff have 'reprogrammed' them. Some items in the world you can do this with if it/they have the capacity.
These players were always good players but just never realised how good. It is not just about what is at their feet it is what is in their brains and the capacity to take on new information to make them perform better.

 

[Bladey McBladeface]

This is the best footballing and technically gifted United team I've seen - I probably started going to the Lane in 1994. However, I do feel the 02/03 side would have enough to beat us over two legs (on away goals or something).

 

[Balham]

This midfield wipes the floor with any other midfield I've ever seen in red and white. McCall and Brown were great in 2002/03 but Fleck and Coutts are a class apart.

 

[Gimli]

In 20 odd years of watching, i have never enjoyed the football we have played as much as I am now - winning helps but it's the style and class we play with that makes it so good to watch, overlapping centre backs for goodness sake!! Great time to be a blade

 

[Sid1978]

Best team I've seen and certainly the most fluid. Stick Deane and Agana up top and we'd crush the lot.

This.

 

[boo radley]

This is the best footballing and technically gifted United team I've seen - I probably started going to the Lane in 1994. However, I do feel the 02/03 side would have enough to beat us over two legs (on away goals or something).

Because that team had a top scoring midfielder. That is the only thing missing from this one. But that may come down to different times, different tactics?

 

[Bladey McBladeface]

Because that team had a top scoring midfielder. That is the only thing missing from this one. But that may come down to different times, different tactics?

Brown was class that season but let's not forget that Ndlovu and Tonge had goals in them too. That team also had great spirit - the amount of late goals was incredible.

We do lack goals from midfield in this team though. Coutts and Fleck are better at shooting than they give themselves credit for. They should shoot more often.

 

[Ldn_Rd_Blades]

I can't remember seeing such good close control and intricate passing before

 

[Baaaaaaa Blades]

Started going 87/88
said the same recently , never see a team like this play such excellent football along with this attitude and desire

 

[snootyfenooty]

At full time last night, I was thinking..... Is this the best United team I've ever seen? (1989 onwards before you 70's old farts all chip in )

Yes, it's the best since the 70's team. If Brooks develops further and becomes the new TC then it will be better than the 70's team. I can't fucking believe what I'm seeing.

 

[Carlton Blade]

Still got a soft spot for the Deane, Bryson, Bradshaw, Whitehouse vintage. Jags/Brown/Tonge/McCall was probably the most talented. In terms of sustained success and signature results, that team nicks it but if we can get top 6 this year id think about it.

 

[DaveBassettsgoneonholiday]

I started in '72 & caught the slow decline and to be honest was probably too young to appreciate how good Woodward Currie et al were at the time. As far as a "footballing side" goes I can't remember seeing any better than what we have now. As for being a "team" I think the togetherness we have now is probably as good as it was when DB was in charge...... hardly a surprise knowing that Wilder has taken & used a lot of that team spirit ethic from when he played under him.

 

[Grizzly blade]

Aside from one season, Browns scoring record was nothing spectacular.

Fleck and Coutts will score this season, maybe not as many as we hope but that matters not so long as somebody scores.

As for “the best”?
For me, having missed the 70s sides and beginning in the 80s, it is no comparison.

Bassets sides were exciting at the time, but limited in ability. They made up for that physically and tactically.
Warnock sides were similar, a little more ability perhaps, but many players fit the bill of a Bassett player and succeeded because of his ability to get more from them.

Kendall...the only other side I recall thinking were very good. He didn’t hang around as we know, but his team then was special. BUT....still not as good as this one.
In all my years watching United, no midfield players have been at the club as good as Fleck and Coutts. It’s a pairing that works, they know what the other I suspect doing, they have all the ability to be at the top of the game and Wilder has got them to believe in themselves and produce their best week after week.
Add this lad Brooks....say it quietly because I never saw Currie play....but is he?Is he as good? Does he do things that we haven’t seen since TC??

Yes, we may have had better strikers, better defenders over the years but as midfield is key, this makes it the best team.
IMHO of course.

 

[The Hobott]

In addition to being the best footballers they work the hardest. Since Wilder came I basically leave every game thinking we noticeably worked harder than them. Never had that before.
Just mentioned that to a Burnley fan colleague. He said it means you're going up.

 

[madeinsheffield]

I was in awe at times last night, we seem mentally strong too. The big thing for me is that we're a complete team, including the subs, changes are fluid. Like someone else highlighted, Sunday's game was demanding and I would have taken a point before the game last night, playing a team that 'should' be up there and have spent even more money than the team we played Sunday. They had a half chance in the first half, we outclassed them in every department.

 

[Grappler]

The team that Warnock took to the Premiership never went below second place all that season. However it had taken him a good six or seven years to build that team. CW and AK are only just starting their second season in charge of the Blades. I said to Mrs Grappler, as we drove to BDTBL last night, "if we win tonight, we go second, and only two points behind Cardiff, mind you Wolves are a decent side, so we will have to wait and see....."

SUFC in second place, in the Championship.

As the old saying goes, the table doesn't lie.

 

[Benny and the Blades]

• Does anyone believe that the dynamic duo aren't going to improve on it ?

 

[Booker4]

I went way yesterday thinking that last nights performance was one of the most complete I've seen from a United team. Whether this is the best United team I've seen, I'm not so sure. Warnock's Premier League team was decent, although the current one certainly plays better football. I don't ever recall us been so dominant of other teams to be honest like we have been recently.

I'd still take Michael Brown in this team though. Brooks is going to be a better player for sure, but Brown in the form he was of 02/03, scoring the goals he did would be a huge asset. Maybe Brown off the bench!

 

[Harrisblade]

I can't remember seeing such good close control and intricate passing before

Never been a particular attribute of any previous Blades team.
It's something that Fleck, Coutts exemplify, but the current managerial mind-set has allowed to develop throughout the whole team and it seems they're all becoming a bit expert at it!

 

[FinchleyBlade]

Its close, but the 02-03 midfield of Tonge-Brown-McCall-Nuddy probably still gives that team the edge.

 

[Stretch]

I wasn't lucky enough to witness the Currie / Woodward et al era, but have seen some very good United teams ever since. Both Basset and Warnock put out teams that were exciting to watch, but that was more down to the passion and energy, combined with a never say die attitude that we all love. Then we had the Kendall into Spackman era where the sides were just as entertaining but who played better football imo. Clough also deserves an honourable mention for that first season, if for no other reason that he got the best out of Flynn and Murphy on the wings.

Well I think this current crop beats the lot of them and by a distance actually, They have it all, skill, flair, confidence, grit, passion and every one of them just seems absolutely delighted to be playing for us. I would seriously struggle to find a fault, anywhere throughout the whole squad and management team.

The good times are well and truly back and long may it continue.

 

[CTRL ALT DE LAET]

This is by far the best utd team I've ever seen who play by far the best football I've ever witnessed at the lane! I mean, have you ever seen overlapping center halves before?

I cant believe that CW and AN have turned us from league one cloggers to serious contenders in La Liga in just over a year!

Like people have said though, we do lack goals from midfield but as long as the forwards are scoring then who really cares.

 

[fireblade]

70's old fart here..
At the end of last nights game I allowed myself a few moments of quiet reflection to absorb the atmosphere and the general feeling of being in the Lane.
Somehow I found my thoughts drifting back to my childhood days of the early 70's, and that team built by the late great John Harris.
It was a strange feeling, as I don't normally dwell in the past, and I can't quite put my finger on it, but there are similarities with that period and what is happening now.
I enjoyed all the successful teams mentioned in the OP but I genuinely think this team and the style of football being played along with the passion, togetherness and individual talent we have, will surpass them all. The magic is back.

 

[snootyfenooty]

Add this lad Brooks....say it quietly because I never saw Currie play....but is he?Is he as good? Does he do things that we haven’t seen since TC??

What you have to consider with TC is that he was one the the top half dozen in the country. On his day he was the best. This is the act Brooks (or anyone else) has to follow. To balance this, although United were a match for anyone in those days, they could also be fucking shite and were not averse to getting hammered on more than a few occasions. That's why that team never won owt.

On the evidence of what I'm seeing now, United have the potential to surpass that team. The genie in the bottle is of course Brooks. If he develops the sky's the limit for him and the team. The key of course is how much longer can we hang on to him.