Aiden McGeady

[Junior]

Pele believes midfielder Nicky Butt has been the player of the World Cup so far and has picked him out as a key man for England in their quarter-final against Brazil.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/worldcup2002/hi/matches_wallchart/england_v_brazil/newsid_2054000/2054738.stm

The above is the opening paragraph in the article, however the the only quotes attributed to pele in that article are below, so how much you can put down to the bbcs artistic license Im not sure!!

"Butt is the player who has been consistent with his good marking, pressure and passing," he told the BBC.

[drinkfeckarse]

Well he was right about that though. Butt had a great World Cup in 2002.

[Dallasirish]

Mc geady is playin the best football of his career and he would run rings round S reid any day of the week. Why was Mc Geady not on? Because Staunton hasnt got a clue how to manage a team at this level ------ Way out of his leauge and needs to be replaced ASAP .. Does anyone here truly believe we will Qualify with this fella in charge? Great player but he is not ready for MGT!

[gustavo]

I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure he said he was the best player at the World Cup ........ Considering he wasn't even the best midfielder in Birmngham last year that was a pretty big shout!

In case you didnt notice those two events were 3 years apart.

[youngirish]

In case you didnt notice those two events were 3 years apart.
He was always sh**e though. Pure s***e just had good players around him making him look good a la Phil Neville and JOS at united. So it's a ridiculous statement about Butt IMO.

Many great footballers don't have a clue about the game anyway. Look at Brady. He hasn't a breeze (just ask any Brighton or Celtic fan). There are countless more that now ply their trade as pundits that I could roll off but I won't (Lawro).

[Billsthoughts]

I think brady would know the game fairly well (he is the head of the arsenal youth acadamy as far as I know)but may not have the personality for management. not many people do tho. he managed both brighton and celtic but not exactly in the most ideal circumstances.Celtic was a graveyard for a lot of managers before Jansen and O neill while Graham Souness was changing face of Scottish Football. Brighton was just a financial shambles.

[endabob1]

In case you didnt notice those two events were 3 years apart.

The orignal point was that the great Pele said that about Butt and during this world cup he said it about Gerrard, claiming that he had spotted how great he was at the last world cup when he missed it through injury!!!!

[The Legend]

Great player but he is not ready for MGT!

Great Player? that's a bit much!... Most Capped player would be more accurate description...

[drinkfeckarse]

He was always sh**e though. Pure s***e just had good players around him making him look good a la Phil Neville and JOS at united. So it's a ridiculous statement about Butt IMO.



Have you not seen that is was not a ridiculous statement yet?? If you read the actual quote he says Butt was outstanding for England at the 2002 World Cup and for him was one of the players of the tournament so far. Considering Butt won many plaudits for his performances at that World Cup then I can't understand what you keep goin on about:confused:

Yes Butt is sh!te but every dog has his day and that World Cup was his...

[Pat O' Banton]

To counter your argument, allow me to introduce Pele: One of the greatest footballers of all time............ Constantly spouts rubbish about the game ;)

Sorry hombre to be so late back to this but I'm internet lite at home.

Maldini said this after McGeady had played against him in the Champions League, not from a press box where he was keen to impress whoever is hosting him at that particual moment. And as far as I know Maldini is the opposite to Pele in this regards, not a man to give praise lightly.

On the night McGeady was man of the match causing the Milan defence all sorts of problems that they had no real answer for. I see few people in the Ireland squad at the moment who could wreak that kind havoc amoungst top international teams at the moment.

[Closed Account 2]

He seems to have built himself up physically a bit over the summer, which is good as last season he was looking a bit too lightweight.

[Junior]

SPL Young player of the month

[OneRedArmy]

Poor enough in tonights Champions League game. Trying a few things but very little coming off.

[dr_peepee]

Very much so!! I don't get to see him much and was very disapointed...

Saying that, I was impressed with O'Shea when he came on.

[eirebhoy]

He looked like he had a ton of bricks on his shoulders tonight. I wouldn't mind if he just couldn't beat his man but every simple pass he tried was woeful. I hope he's not going to be affected by confidence throughout his career.

[Condex]

Yip, he was very poor tonight..
But then again he got very little support
very little played through midfield...

[tetsujin1979]

thought he was alright in the first half, but very poor in the second half. Mind you, Maloney who replaced him wasn't much better, did Fergie order Fletcher to stick to McGeady to negate him?

[mountie]

Mc Geady was awful, he made no impression at all. O'Shea, however looked very composed and caught the eye, made at least 15 passes and only one went astray. He also made a very physical challenge on Saturday in the game against Spurs, maybe the penny has finally droped??:eek:

[Stuttgart88]

Mc Geady was awful, he made no impression at all. O'Shea, however looked very composed and caught the eye, made at least 15 passes and only one went astray. He also made a very physical challenge on Saturday in the game against Spurs, maybe the penny has finally droped??:eek:Agree, McGeady was disappointing. O'Shea looked every inch a central midfielder, unlike Thomas Gravesen unfortunately! I still think O'Shea's days as a central midfielder for United will be limited, but how poor was Carrick last night?

[youngirish]

I worry about Mc Geady. It' s all well and good looking top class against the sh**e that play for Inverness and St Mirren and the like but he needs to do it at a higher level if he's to be any use to us in Internationals.

I hope he doesn't waste his career at Celtic. I'd like to see him try to get a move to even an average Premiership club whereby he could play at a decent level week in and week out rather than just the odd game in the Champions league.

[NeilMcD]

I thought Maloney looked good when he came on. Mc Geady was rubbish though. O Shea has had good games for Utd before but when he plays for Ireland he is a disaster esp in centre mid. Most frustrating player in the Irish squad in my opinion.

[Stuttgart88]

Is Staunton still a coward for only picking McGeady as a sub in Stuttgart?

[geysir]

Stan made a sound valid justifiable brave decision keeping McGeady in reserve on the sub's bench.
With hindsight maybe he could have come on after 65mins.
If McGeady is as fragile in confidence as Eirebhoy says then no harm to be patient with him.

[Delbertt]

McGeady did have poor game last nite but he's still a young player and is learning, i still think mcgeady would be our best choice to start right wing against cyprus.

[wws]

mcgeady was brutal lads
first time ive had a good look
seemed unduely nervous in possession
he'll have better days but far from ready to save the irish midfield
be realistic

[eirebhoy]

I worry about Mc Geady. It' s all well and good looking top class against the sh**e that play for Inverness and St Mirren and the like but he needs to do it at a higher level if he's to be any use to us in Internationals.
It had nothing to do with the opposition. It's not as if he was marked out of the game, he just couldn't even pass to a teammate. I've never seen him that nervous. I don't think McGeady should be making his first competitive start for Ireland at Lansdowne as I can't see him doing well (until he gains the confidence of the Irish support). At the same time, I think he'll be 10 times the player when he plays United in Celtic Park.

If McGeady stopped reading what fans are saying on internet forums maybe he wouldn't be so nervous. ;)

[bmozza]

I think a few people should realise what McGeady is about before judging him. He's a very intelligent passer of ther ball and likes to pick out forwards clever runs. Last night Celtic played 1 big man up front on his own, when McGeady got the ball there was absolutely no movement in front of him. I agree however that he had a bad night, but that definitely does not mean he's a bad player. Made his CL debut against none other than AC Milan and was outstanding that night, so much so that they ended up doubling up on him. Stan should definitley started him as he's 10 times better than Kilbane.

[wws]

I think a few people should realise what McGeady is about before judging him. He's a very intelligent passer of ther ball and likes to pick out forwards clever runs. Last night Celtic played 1 big man up front on his own, when McGeady got the ball there was absolutely no movement in front of him. I agree however that he had a bad night, but that definitely does not mean he's a bad player. Made his CL debut against none other than AC Milan and was outstanding that night, so much so that they ended up doubling up on him. Stan should definitley started him as he's 10 times better than Kilbane.


no he's young and inexperienced and lets the occassion get to him (he will get better).
passed to the touchline twice last night with a team mate in an easy position to receive a pass - in a nutshell justifying stans insistence in going with experience in Stuttgart

you cant take risks in certain away games and mcgeady at present is a risk

[elroy]

Ya wasnt too impressed last night, although Ive heard enough good reports about him not to judge him on last night. Am gonna try and catch as many of their CL games and see how he gets on overall. They have copenhagen at home next so you would expect him to do well there.

On O'Shea, he always puts in a solid performance for Utd in midfield but when it comes to playing for us, he seems to lose all composure and confidence.

[bmozza]

Celtic's other winger, Nakumura, has also been great for Celtic, however he was brutal last night apart from the goal. I feel this was also due to the lack of movement up front. Everytime he got the ball he was either coming back or giving it away. I think this backs up what I said about McGeady, and I think it's a valid point that there was no one to hit. However I'm not naive enough to know this wasn't the only factor in why they had bad games, but it's an important one. Looking forward to seeing him prove a few lads wrong against Copenhagen!

[eirebhoy]

Celtic's other winger, Nakumura, has also been great for Celtic
I thought Naka played well. There's no excuses for McGeady. He should have kept things simple at the start and eased himself into the game. As soon as he did the 1st thing wrong I was certain he was going to have a bad game. He'll only learn from these types of matches though.

[Stuttgart88]

McGeady played wide on the left last night. Can someone tell me in what position he got his 3 successive MOTMs recently for Celtic? I don't have Setanta but clips I've seen have shown him more centrally.

And an observation: he always seems to receive the ball at feet & stationary. He never seems to arrive onto the ball. Is his positioning questionable?

[bmozza]

Na he plays on the left for Celtic all the time.... but he always cuts in on his right which is when he's most dangerous.

[cavan_fan]

[QUOTE=bmozza;535433]Made his CL debut against none other than AC Milan and was outstanding that night, so much so that they ended up doubling up on him. QUOTE]

I'm not sure it is possible to write about McGeady without mentioning the performance against Milan. Although he was good that night, I worry that it was the worst thing to happen to his career. At this stage I'd swap him for Maloney.

[galwayhoop]

I hope he doesn't waste his career at Celtic. I'd like to see him try to get a move to even an average Premiership club whereby he could play at a decent level week in and week out rather than just the odd game in the Champions league.

ahhhh yeah, like miller (liam & kenny), chris sutton, barry ferguson, boumsong.... and many others who 'wasted their careers' with celtic & rangers before moving to premiership clubs and showing their true talent..................

maybe players should actually stay where they are doing well instead of moving to england. i await what becomes of stan petrov with villa, petrov was excellent in scotland (twice the player mcgeady is at the moment) but wonder what impact he'll have at villa (an average premiership club).

[bmozza]

Yea, like Larrson, who arrogent people in pubs time and time again said ''he'd never cut it in the Premiership''....... I wonder what them same lads were saying when he came on for Barca and won the CL for them against Arsenal!!

Cavan fan, agreed that Malony is a better player at the moment, but he wasn't getting on the Celtic side when he was McGeady's age. When McGeady is 23/24 I think he will be an outstanding player. Fingers crossed anyway.

Whilst we're talking about young celts/irish..... O'Brien and O'Carroll are knocking in a few for the reserves this season, could also be good prospects?

[endabob1]

ahhhh yeah, like miller (liam & kenny), chris sutton, barry 'the hun'' ferguson, boumsong.... and many others who 'wasted their careers' with celtic & rangers before moving to premiership clubs and showing their true talent..................

maybe players should actually stay where they are doing well instead of moving to england. i await what becomes of stan petrov with villa, petrov was excellent in scotland (twice the player mcgeady is at the moment) but wonder what impact he'll have at villa (an average premiership club).

The general standard in England is a lot higher than Scotland (outside of the OF) so you have the big fish small pond situation, a good example is actually Boumsong who was great at Rangers but found out at Newcastle.
I think Petrov will do very well at Villa because he is a quality player, O'Neil knows him well and knows what to expect from him.
McGeady should stay where he is imo, he played poorly last night but that's a good midfield they have and he will learn more actually playing at Celtic than if he done what Liam Miller did and end up in a Premiership Top 4 side's reserves.

[eirebhoy]

McGeady played wide on the left last night. Can someone tell me in what position he got his 3 successive MOTMs recently for Celtic? I don't have Setanta but clips I've seen have shown him more centrally.

He plays left in every game. Strachan doesn't really play 'wingers' though. He plays left footers on the right and right footers on the left so they drift inside. Ronaldinho plays on the left for Barca but he's no winger.


I'm not sure it is possible to write about McGeady without mentioning the performance against Milan.
Well we're hardly going to keep mentioning his performance against the likes of Inverness as people just question the quality of opposition. He has 5 more games to earn a bit of credit for himself, watch all 5 games and then judge him! :)

As for Maloney, he's a quality player and I'd certainly have him over McGeady atm.

[joema]

Stan made a sound valid justifiable brave decision keeping McGeady in reserve on the sub's bench.
With hindsight maybe he could have come on after 65mins.
If McGeady is as fragile in confidence as Eirebhoy says then no harm to be patient with him.

I still think Stan bottled it by not giving McGeady more time against Germany, one bad game does not mean hes not up to it, he was poor last night but I still think he will be a quality player for us

[Fergie's Son]

Yea, like Larrson, who arrogent people in pubs time and time again said ''he'd never cut it in the Premiership''....... I wonder what them same lads were saying when he came on for Barca and won the CL for them against Arsenal!!


In fairness, Arsenal were down to 10 men at that point.

[gustavo]

Yea, like Larrson, who arrogent people in pubs time and time again said ''he'd never cut it in the Premiership''....... I wonder what them same lads were saying when he came on for Barca and won the CL for them against Arsenal!!



Yes because we can only justify how well a player does when he does it against an English side, Dont let the fact that Larsson had proven himself more than capable at Barcelona for 2 years before that get in the way.

[hoopy]

Celtic's other winger, Nakumura, has also been great for Celtic, however he was brutal last night apart from the goal

Total rubbish! He was the most accomplished player on the ball last night

[joema]

I thought Nakamura was excellent last night

[drinkfeckarse]

I'm not sure it is possible to write about McGeady without mentioning the performance against Milan. Although he was good that night, I worry that it was the worst thing to happen to his career. At this stage I'd swap him for Maloney.


That's a fair point and let's not forget it was 2 years ago. I was there that night and he was immense but lets move on from it. It gets boring to keep mentioning one game where he was great as we all know that he can do it on his day and that one game may act like a weight around his neck after a while.

[Junior]

Total rubbish! He was the most accomplished player on the ball last night

What about Scholes???:rolleyes:

McGeady had a poor game but so did Gravesen a man with 10 years more experience and a guy who has just come from playing in La Liga with Real, it happens.

As a fan or even a a manager for that matter, its great to have a player that can pick the ball up and create something out of nothing, McGeady can do that.

Celtic need it, Ireland need it and I look forward to him maturing and being an integral part of both teams. This guy has great work ethic as well, something which has developed over the past season or so, so its not as though he's a luxury player.

[youngirish]

ahhhh yeah, like miller (liam & kenny), chris sutton, barry ferguson, boumsong.... and many others who 'wasted their careers' with celtic & rangers before moving to premiership clubs and showing their true talent..................

I think you'll find Sutton played in the Premiership before he ever moved to Scotland and was more than decent especially at Blackburn and Norwich. Kenny Miller was also good for Wolves.

The others were proven not to be good enough when they moved to the Premiership even though they all looked excellent up in Scotland. That shows how much of a joke of a league it is. If McGeady is good enough he would cut it in the Premiership. If he's proven not to be good enough for the Premiership then I'd rather not see him for Ireland. He can be MOTM all he wants playing Falkirk and Motherwell and sh**e like that. He'll find it hard to adjust when he plays against decent defenders that are
of a much higher quality as we seen on Wednesday evening. If Ireland played the likes of Inverness in internationals I'd be happy to see him included but unfortunately we generally face opposition of a much higher quality.

Any player of any quality should really not be wasting their time up in Scotland. McGeady would develop into a far better player if he could get a move to a Premiership club where he's guaranteed regular football. He is young and possibly could wait a couple of more years but that's where he should be looking to in the future.

[Stuttgart88]

McGeady would develop into a far better player if he could get a move to a Premiership club where he's guaranteed regular football. That's the rub though. Which Premiership club could guarantee him a place? I agree that Celtic is best place for him for now.

I thought you hated Kenny Miller?

I kind of alluded to this in the rankings thread earlier though, but I don't think we need all Premiership players to be a competitive international team. Balance and other factors can compensate for lack of real quality in certain positions I think. In general I think playing for a good SPL or Championship Club means that a player has every right to be considered for a starting place in an Ireland side.

I can also think of players who have been proven successes in England but poor in Scotland, not the other way around. Craig Bellamy (OK, he had some great games for Celtic, Dundee Utd hat trick away...) practically cost Celtic the league with abysmal finishing at home to Rangers & away to Motherwell.

Henri Camara is another who does well in P'ship but was a flop at Celtic.

It works both ways.

[youngirish]

I thought you hated Kenny Miller?


I do think he's a bit s**t but it would be unfair to say he was c**p for Wolves. He was decent for them though he doesn't have as good a scoring record as any of our Championship strikers (Elliot, Connolly, Morrison).

He isn't good enough for the Premiership though.

[Junior]

Anyone know how many players the Dutch team have that play in their domestic league? For comparison purposes (Dutch league could be equivalent to SPL)

[NeilMcD]

I do think he's a bit s**t but it would be unfair to say he was c**p for Wolves. He was decent for them though he doesn't have as good a scoring record as any of our Championship strikers (Elliot, Connolly, Morrison).

He isn't good enough for the Premiership though.

Kenny Miller is one of the most slelfless players about. His work rate off the ball is immense and he also has great speed. He reminds me of Aldridge for Ireland in that he puts so much effort outside the box that he was not always in the box to score the goals. he is the sort of guy other team mates love.