What opposition player did you always dread coming to the Riverside...

MichaelDebeve

MichaelDebeve

Well-known member
...or Ayresome?

For me I always had the sinking feeling seeing Thierry Henry's name on the team sheet in the early 00's, around 2003-2005.

He was unplayable at times then, and always seemed to enjoy himself at our place!

I remember him getting a tap in, when they hammered us 4-0 (2003 maybe?) and he was all over the park that day, couldn't get close to him.
 
Henry was of such a standard that he deserved to be feared, but the dread was always withheld for Chopra, Stead, Dickov et al, where you knew they weren't the mercurial talents who would wrap the defence up in knots, yet always managed to poke it home after a pinball scramble in the box.
 
Marco Gabbiadini for Sunderland, different era but Kevin Phillips for Sunderland, Craig Bellamy and Shearer for Newcastle.

Don Goodman always seemed to score at Ayresome Park, but i might be mis-remembering.

Never really minded when the absolute greats like Henry came and had a good game, sometimes you just have to admire it. It was the absolute hoofers that always seemed to find another level against us in those 1990's days.
 
Henry was my first thought. They always hammered us but the dread was definitely from a rubbish player scoring against us.

Luke Moore in his first two full seasons at Villa scored 9 goals and 5 of them, across 3 games were against us, including a hat-trick at the Riverside. He scored again the following season at the Riverside. He only got 41 league goals in his career and 6 of them were against us. Maybe more if he scored against us for WBA, Derby or Swansea.
 
MichaelDebeve said:
...or Ayresome?

For me I always had the sinking feeling seeing Thierry Henry's name on the team sheet in the early 00's, around 2003-2005.

He was unplayable at times then, and always seemed to enjoy himself at our place!

I remember him getting a tap in, when they hammered us 4-0 (2003 maybe?) and he was all over the park that day, couldn't get close to him.
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Not so much an individual player but that Arsenal team in general. They beat Boro 0 - 4 and 1 - 6 at the Riverside in those days. That said, if you didn't appreciate the football they played you can't be a fan of the sport.
 
As someone mentioned above, that Arsenal team was one of the very few teams I never gave us a chance against.

I'd always fancy us at the Riverside against a United or maybe Liverpool etc but never the Arsenal team from the early 00's.
 
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