Aiden McGeady

absolutely, but theyre not better than Bohs :D

in seriousness, as ive said before, i think McGeady is a fine player and with a few more years of age and experience will be a very good player for Ireland and Celtic.

Just one thing ill pull you up on in your last post is that eL fans dont really think that the eL is the cream of football. What I think is that its better to support your local team and Irish football in general. Secondly, a live game beats the living sh1t out of watching a premiership game on the telly - thats how i got hooked. Sure, it doesnt have the glamour of the english game but it has enough going for it to entertain a true fan of the game of football.

Irish footie is to english footie as Brookside is to Falcon Crest. :D both very entertaining in their own way!

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Originally Posted by SkStu

Irish footie is to english footie as Brookside is to Falcon Crest. :D both very entertaining in their own way!

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A better comparison would be Irish footie is to English footie as Fair City is to Sopranos.

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Originally Posted by youngirish

Stating the obvious? Maybe you should actually add your backing to those obvious suggestions that I make at the time when many are slating them instead of coming out after the matter has been settled and doing your usual smartarse I knew that all the time. Thinking about it I've never seen you have an opinion on anything that turned out to be true after the fact. I see you still haven't stated an opinion on McGeady but in 2 years if he's playing for Hamilton in the Scottish 1st division you'll be on here stating you always knew he was rubbish because it was obvious.

What statements have I made that at the time I made them they were obvious (bar the above)?

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McGeady is already a very good player, He will move on to become an important player for Ireland over the coming years. He is an exceptional talent. He won't be playing for Hamilton in two years, though it seems to me you hope he will be.

Obvious statement- foretelling Ireland & Joey O'Brien would get in the Irish team. Err how many other young Irish midfielders were making the breakthrough at a Premiership team at this time - NONE - brilliant insight:rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by youngirish

I honestly believe that while Ireland have a decent team now we should be enjoying a golden period in our footballing history by the time of the next European championships comes around. I base this claim because of the from the amount of young Irish talent that is starting to make waves across the channel.

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:D

.. and this is pure class.

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Originally Posted by youngirish

I might head down to Paddy Power now to see what odds I can get on Ireland for Euro 2008. It's money in the bank.

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Originally Posted by Paddy Garcia

McGeady is already a very good player, He will move on to become an important player for Ireland over the coming years. He is an exceptional talent. He won't be playing for Hamilton in two years, though it seems to me you hope he will be.

Obvious statement- foretelling Ireland & Joey O'Brien would get in the Irish team. Err how many other young Irish midfielders were making the breakthrough at a Premiership team at this time - NONE - brilliant insight:rolleyes:



:D

.. and this is pure class.

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I still think we will have a very good team in another 7-8 months (we already do). Two years with Stan the plank in charge is the main reason we are sh*te at the moment IMO.

Joey O'Brien wasn't playing in the Premiership when I made that prediction. I think he had only played in one of the UEFA cup games. I suppose Paul McShane was a regular for Man U back in September 2005 also was he?

By the way that comment at the end of the post was a joke. I'll stick a smiley face on such posts next time so the slightly less capable amongst us (you) can more easily identify them.

Review of McGeady's performance against Aberdeen at the weekend: http://www.theherald.co.uk/sport/hea...858358.0.0.php

He had a great game again, but i'm not blind enough to realise that Aberdeen (although going well in the SPL) are a limited side against which to measure talent. He's been having a fantastic season against everyone, when things go wrong for him he just goes again for more. The no end product thing has been ****ing me off for a while. I've seen it time and again with Aiden and I think its people just stereotyping him into the 'tricky winger' category, without having seen him play much.

What pleases me most is the fans who previously have got on his back at CP are now silenced and he actually gets his name sung by the Celtic fans these days.

I wouldn't blame Ireland fans who have only seen him play for us think he's rubbish, but I look forward to the day when these fans opinions are changed aswell.

I reckon we should bide our time with the lad. He seems to have come on a lot this season and showed in spurts against the Welsh what he is capable of. I'd prefer to see him have a go on the right for us where he has a reliable full-back (Finnan) behind him to compensate for his defensive frailities. He certainly causes defenders anxious moments.

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Originally Posted by Docboy

I reckon we should bide our time with the lad. He seems to have come on a lot this season and showed in spurts against the Welsh what he is capable of. I'd prefer to see him have a go on the right for us where he has a reliable full-back (Finnan) behind him to compensate for his defensive frailities. He certainly causes defenders anxious moments.

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Exactly. How old is he? 21? FFS there's plenty of time for him.

the comment about his defensive frailties is a bit out of place, he was doing plenty working back on saturday, its obvious Gordon Strachan is teaching him plenty, his crossing was 100% on saturday, had no fear taking players on&did the less glamorous work well too. Ireland have yet to see his best, but its surely only a matter of time

McGeady was ok tonight, nothing special. Played on the right. Set up a free header 3 yards out for Jarosik with a fabulous cross but he shot wide. Set up Donati's goal in injury time with a low pass back towards the edge of the box.

Dunphy's backtracking was fully completed tonight. He's now happy to see McGeady do well.

Great comment from Strachan before the game.
1922: Celtic boss Gordon Strachan was asked what he thought about the Shakhtar coach's view that Celtic were lucky when they beat Milan and Benfica at home. Strachan replied: "He must be confusing me with somebody that is bothered."

I thought McGeady played well. If he can create a goal a game in tight game like this then he is doing well.

The goal he set up:
http://www.dailymotion.com/fwoman/video/6070534

Cross for Jarosik:
http://www.sendspace.pl/file/BAhgIzs0/

I think Eirebhoy is understating with the just OK bit. :)
Apart from that wild pass across field, McGeady gave a good account of himself in tightly marked situations. He never let his head drop and kept composure all through the game. Superb drop of the shoulder when cornered before hitting the last ball across.

It wasn't up there with any of his last 6 or 7 performances anyway. ;) I thought he was Celtic's best player after Jarosik and Brown but Celtic were poor overall.

Did you see where he was standing for the throw that ultimately led to the winner? McGeady took the throw in himself, standing with both feet about a foot onto the pitch!

I have seen the future of Irish football, and it is Long and McGeady!!:)

I have seen the future of Irish football and it's long and arduous.

Ba boom!!!!:D

Seriously though McGeadys development is encouraging :)

His development has been key to Celtics good performances of late, and he hasnt been too bad for ireland considering the other Sh!te thats been on the field at times!

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Originally Posted by gustavo

Seriously though McGeadys development is encouraging :)

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For me, the jury is out until he does it away from home on a foreign field.

Unlike Bratislava and Prague.

Has he done it away from home in Europe for Celtic ?

It must be very easy to play your home games at Celtic Park when the opposition is sh1tting themselves. It is Europe's outpost, like Moscow, and no-one wants to go there.

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Originally Posted by stojkovic

Has he done it away from home in Europe for Celtic ?

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Yep. He was excellent in Benfica. He also played very well in a central role in the San Siro last season. He came off the bench in Moscow and Ukraine this season and did really well too.

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

Yep. He was excellent in Benfica. He also played very well in a central role in the San Siro last season. He came off the bench in Moscow and Ukraine this season and did really well too.

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Great. I hope he starts showing for us soon.

I thought it was great to see him on the right. He showed time and again last night that he has the ability to beat his man and put a quality ball into the box when he plays wide on the right, rather than cutting inside all the time as he does on the left.

He is really starting to remind me of a young irish right-footed Ryan Giggs

Solid performance by him, he's been playing very well domestically and in Europe this season.

Haven't seen a wingback able to contain him consistently this season.

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Originally Posted by Tuff Paddy

Delighted to see McGeady doing so well. Give it 12 months and he'll have James McCarthy beside him for Ireland.

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Woah there, I'll be delighted if McCarthy is playing regular top flight football this time next year, he's only 17, if he develops well he should be a regular international at 20

Given that McGeady was double marked I thought he did really well. His final ball was much better, his decision making was good and if he had Larsson, Sutton or Hartson to feed rather than that stick Venegoor of Hesselink his contribution would be greater. The defensive side of his game is good, his attitude is good and I agree with those who say he’s added pace.

As an aside, with Kennedy’s unfortunate injury will O’Dea get a chance in San Siro?

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Given that McGeady was double marked I thought he did really well. His final ball was much better, his decision making was good and if he had Larsson, Sutton or Hartson to feed rather than that stick Venegoor of Hesselink his contribution would be greater. The defensive side of his game is good, his attitude is good and I agree with those who say he’s added pace.

As an aside, with Kennedy’s unfortunate injury will O’Dea get a chance in San Siro?

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I doubt it, if Naylor recovers it should be Naylor-McManus-Pressley-Caldwell

O'Dea will probably be first choice from the bench. If Naylor is still out he could start at left back though (they'd have essentially 4 centre backs playing though).

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

/btw - I'll try my best to get a video of McGeady playing Milan 3 years ago. That was always thought to be McGeady's best performance. We can then see how much he has changed. :)

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I received this in the post this morning and look forward to watching it.

agreed mcgeady was excellent for celtic the last time. it must be the addition of a loud and energetic crowd. seriously, what else is the difference?

It beggers belief that O Dea hasn't featured much this season. Last season he was a revelation in defence for Celtic. Instead Stracahan relies on planks like Mcmanus, Kennedy and Caldwell and don't get me started on Pressley.

As for Aiden, he's playing really well at the moment and it'll only be a matter of time until he sets croke park alight. After the nightmare in Eastern Europe, he's done well in the rest of the games and a fresh start might be what he needs.

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Originally Posted by Torn-Ado

It beggers belief that O Dea hasn't featured much this season. Last season he was a revelation in defence for Celtic. Instead Stracahan relies on planks like Mcmanus, Kennedy and Caldwell and don't get me started on Pressley.

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According to this - http://www.football365.com/story/0,1...932108,00.html - O'Dea has been sick recently.

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Centre-back O'Dea may return from illness for Saturday's Clydesdale Bank Premier League clash with Hearts

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Still a regular on the bench at the start of the season though

O'Dea is back up to McManus, simple as that. I'd love to know Strachan doesn't think he can play beside McManus.

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

O'Dea is back up to McManus, simple as that. I'd love to know Strachan doesn't think he can play beside McManus.

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What's the issue? Lack of pace between the two of them?

No Pressley's slower than both. It's the fact they're both left footed and both prefer to play on the left of the 2 I think. They didn't do too badly in the 2 legs against Milan last season though (McManus played in the right).

Well I don't see what the issue is then, most centre half pairings are two right footers. I suppose O'Dea isn't dominant enough to justify forcing himself in there yet.

Not gonna lie, he looked the part in every way today.

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Originally Posted by danonion

Not gonna lie, he looked the part in every way today.

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When he does it for us consistently, I'll be convinced he's the real deal. I could not give a flying f**k how he well or badly he plays for Seltic, no more than I do about O'Shea playing ManU. For Ireland this pair are overhyped based on what they are doing at their clubs.

Good first half, poor in the 2nd I thought.

Thought O'Dea was ok as well, let Cafu have a lot of space to run into though. It did seem that Milan were targetting Pressley and O'Dea as the weak spots, everything seemed to come through the Milan inside right channel in the second half.