Best player you've ever seen play against us

[Westwood52]

Victor Moses
Marlon King
Lukaku
Nathan Redmond

Victor Moses for Palace (?) beat us on his own that night.I was very impressed with Mata for Chelsea;however I think we scraped a draw that night.

[Gunny Fishcake]

What is the single best performance you've ever seen from an opposition player against us?

Mine is Henry when Arsenal beat us 4-0 at home. The best player I've ever seen play live before.

I remember he took a penalty that game the fourth goal I think and I swear he aimed and hit the inside of the post before it went in

[Jinx]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought Lukaku in that first half v WBA. He was totally unplayable, best striker I saw at the Madejski. My work colleague was in the Albion fans and very smug at half time, less so at the end of the game

[Royal Rother]

Henry for sure but closely followed by Fernando Torres.

[NewCorkSeth]

Best performance? I dunno. But Alexis Sanchez was incredible.

[Jackson Corner]

Victor Moses 2009/10, he almost retired Tabb.

It’s maybe the only time when I can say one player was the difference between the two teams. He totally destroyed us that night simply unplayable.

[Royalwaster]

I remember Santi Cazorla being amazing in another raping of us by Arsenal ... I think that was after Henry? I took my oldest son to that game for his birthday and it was the last live game he's watched - as we got beaten so badly. He gave up on football that day

[Once upon a time .]

I remember seeing Paul Gascogne play against us and even go back far enough to remember going to Elm Park to watch a reserve game to watch a 17 year old Bobby Moore play centre half for West Ham .

[Millsy]

Cureton

Weirdly I don't think he was even the best player in that game. Roberts could've had a hat trick by half time. He absolutely terrorised us. Any time he got the ball we collectively sh@t ourselves.

Good point, they're easy to confuse.

Seriously I didn't mention him though because I didn't see him play against us. I only focussed on Cureton and somehow looked away whenever he was on the ball.

[SWLR]

Steve Gerrard at Mad Stad. Always wondered what the fuss was about with him, but when I saw what he did off the ball, I got it - everything they did went through him. Otherwise Henry (that entire Arsenal team tbf), Ronaldo & Rooney and of course not forgetting the entire Reading team v Bristol Rovers who forgot which team they were on.

[Dick Habbin's hairdo]

Random one but the midget Chelsea midfielder - whatshisname - Gianfranco Zola.

OK, it was a PSF at EP but it was just a pleasure to watch him control the match with seemingly so little effort.

[karbota]

Cureton

Agree, they tore us apart that day, (and the Meeks). In earlier times also remember Dennis Law being outstanding.

[John Smith]

Easy one this - it would be Harry Arter on any of the occasions he’s played against us.

[From Despair To Where?]

Yeah, he was fcuking brilliant for Forest last month, wasn't he?

[SCIAG]

Could do a whole XI of Arsenal players probably. Henry is the obvious one as mentioned, but Fabregas in the same match was not far off, and Walcott, Cazorla, and Sanchez each put us to the sword with help from the likes of Wilshere, Oezil, and Oxlade-Chamberlain. That’s too many attacking midfielders but pretty standard for Arsenal.

Outside of Arsenal, seconding Berbatov. Obviously that game for Spurs stands out but he was also far too good for us next time we were in the PL and he was playing for Fulham. Only Legs could get close to him.

For somebody a bit less glamorous - Jason Koumas always made me feel nervous.

Ronaldo is probably the objective “best” player to ever play against us but never put in a performance like Henry was capable of. Still had an excellent goal record though, four in four league matches.

[Brain Traysers]

Could do a whole XI of Arsenal players probably. Henry is the obvious one as mentioned, but Fabregas in the same match was not far off, and Walcott, Cazorla, and Sanchez each put us to the sword with help from the likes of Wilshere, Oezil, and Oxlade-Chamberlain. That’s too many attacking midfielders but pretty standard for Arsenal.

Outside of Arsenal, seconding Berbatov. Obviously that game for Spurs stands out but he was also far too good for us next time we were in the PL and he was playing for Fulham. Only Legs could get close to him.

For somebody a bit less glamorous - Jason Koumas always made me feel nervous.

Ronaldo is probably the objective “best” player to ever play against us but never put in a performance like Henry was capable of. Still had an excellent goal record though, four in four league matches.

That first time I saw Ronaldo play live was that 1-1 home draw where he cut inside and scored a equalizer after a Doyle penalty (G Nev soft handball). That was the game where it clocked - sure he had some good moments and a well taken goal and I'm sure his highlights package from the game/MOTD made him look class, but he was such a high volume player, wasting possession with terrible row-z shots on numerous possessions. In that sense, he was a disappointment, whereas agreed with others that Henry led a complete outclassing of us.

Lukaku and Moses caused heaps of problems, and I recall Drogba always was so hard to play against - probably his brace against us as we nicked a point on boxing day in 2006 was his best example. Funny that in 2/3 of those examples somehow we didn't actually lose

A slightly more left field one - almost 11-year old Brain felt Roy Carroll seemed almost unbeatable before being Nicky Forster'd

[From Despair To Where?]

Ronaldo had blistering acceleration and exceptional ball control, technically the best player I have seen playing against us, but he was wasteful in possession, a bit too heads down. What made Henry in particular so good was his awareness of everything going on around him.

I guess that's the difference between a 22 and a 28 year old.

[Norfolk Royal]

Derrick Christie absolutely roasted us in a match at Elm Park in the 70s against Northampton Town. At the time I thought he was the best opposition player I'd seen.

We then went on to sign him in the mid 80s I think, probably on the memory of that game in the 70s, and he played a few times but guessing that was towards the end of his career and I was not going to games in UK at that time.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Ronaldo had blistering acceleration and exceptional ball control, technically the best player I have seen playing against us, but he was wasteful in possession, a bit too heads down. What made Henry in particular so good was his awareness of everything going on around him.

I guess that's the difference between a 22 and a 28 year old.

Remember Ronaldo sitting on the floor watching his replays on the big screen.

[NewCorkSeth]

I remember Santi Cazorla being amazing in another raping of us by Arsenal ... I think that was after Henry? I took my oldest son to that game for his birthday and it was the last live game he's watched - as we got beaten so badly. He gave up on football that day

That man was genuinely special. I do think recall the performance but have watched a fair amount of Arsenal given the rest of my family are Arsenal fans. He was thrilling to watch.