Arsenal and Man U were the first names that sprang to mind as by far the best teams we played of that generation, but funny how no individual performance really stands out. Best team performance was Arsenal 6-1, I remember the Riverside applauding that last Kanu goal.
Also funny how Arsenal always gave us a shoeing but we’d always give United a game, would either be a hard-fought 0-1 or we’d win, but Arsenal would just tear us a new one. Bad matchup for the way we played I suppose plus Robbo / McClaren extra motivation factor. Man U never played champagne football against us.
For individuals, Kanu did stand out, as did Henry, Vieira and Anelka, he’s not been mentioned yet but he was class. United Ronaldo, Scholes, was always impressed by Giggs and Keane even though they didn’t individually dominate us.
Same, I concentrate on Boro more so don’t notice the opposition as much. It’s weird being in the Premier League so long and talking to kids today saying, “Yeah, I saw Rooney, Ronaldo, Gerrard, Drogba, Beckham, Bergkamp play loads of times, but can’t remember a great deal of what they did - but let me talk about Bolo Zenden for ten hours”