If anyone on this forum genuinely compared McGeady to the likes of Ronaldo or Messi they'd get stick. I don't know who you're listening to but I think we're a bit more realistic on this forum than that.
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http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-B2UL1c8zuE
Check that video... that only McGeady in the last few weeks!
Also a class picture. The guy marking McGeady here is Razvan Rat (Romanian International fullback who cost Shahktar millions)... Doesn't have a clue where Aiden's gone..
Seconds later the ball was in the net from a McGeady last minute assist.
http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/9330/img8513xk9.jpg
I'm gonna do just that. I know how ridiculous it is, but his game is very similar to Christiano Ronaldo. I am not saying he is as good as Christiano Ronaldo, but there are similarities. Those similarities have been displayed this season against Scottish league teams, and against second tier European sides, Milan aside, and even they have been far from impressive in Serie A this season.
A really tough draw for Celtic in the next round will be the acid test of how good he actually is. A performance at the level his has been producing when marked by a top class full back such as Metzelder or Evra will mean much more than dancing past Motherwell players
[QUOTE=Maroon 7;834063]I wouldn't describe Metzelder as a top class full-back.[QUOTE]
Well, you know what i mean. I would pick him ahead of John O Shea.
thats cos Metzelder is a centre back
Goal for McGeady against Falkirk. For the first time in the match he found himself in plenty of space at the edge of the box and did well to finish when he got the ball.
Another goal! Excellent one. Cut in from the left and curled it in far side. He's destroying Falkirk to be perfectly honest. Got one of their players sent off a few minutes ago too.
Someone will comment on the quality of Falkirk's defence. I know it's poor. In saying that, when they have the ball they're outplaying Celtic. Fantastic team to watch.
And there's the hattrick.:D Through one on one with the keeper, all the space in the world and slots it in.
Are Falkirk even a fulltime club?
Saw the highlights on Setanta there. He was excellent. Scored his 3 goals and hit one fantastic 60 yard pass that Hesselink could have scored from too.
After your one liner about Hearts not so long ago and now this I think it's safe you say you're very ignorant when it comes to the SPL. :) To answer your question, yes of course. Every team in the top 2 divisions in Scotland are full time bar Stirling who were just promoted to the 1st division and are now bottom. Airdrie and Ross County of the 2nd division are also full time.
I think McGeady this season has been similar to Cristiano Ronaldo last season. He seems to added an end product to go along with his bag of tricks.
Highlights of match tonight - features about 75% McGeady. He had a stormer.
Fantastic for McGeady, first hat trick of his career, correct?
Anyone see the game? How did Barrett and Cregg play? Both were substituted,
Cheers for that rock, what a game he had.
Falkirk have the worst away defensive record in the SP, if it was a Champions league match I would have been more impressed. Second goal was off target before it got a deflection, apart from that he seemed to have a good game.
But to put things in perspective, Stokes scored 3 hatricks for Falkirk, didn't find it so easy in the Championship though.
I watched it on a dodgy stream with no sound and couldn't really tell you how either did. McManus was booked for hacking down Barrett though which isn't like McManus. It's good to have Cregg involved in the one touch passing football Falkirk play. He seems to be their workhorse.
Nah I'd rather the hattrick against Falkirk. ;) Fair enough, Falkirk have a rubbish defence. I'm just delighted that McGeady is scoring a few goals. Regardless of the opposition, he's clearly improving a lot all the time.
The 2nd goal looks well on target to me. Look at the angle from behind the goal.
Saw the first half tets, then had to pop along to rodrigo y gabriella. Barrett seems to be settling in nicely there, forming a partnership with higgin(???) who seemed to be their most quality striker before Barrett came back. On a good run now, looks powerful. Glad for him as he must be 26/27 at this stage? Brutal luck with injuries.
Cregg, well the bairns fans appreciate him as far as I know, and he's foraging some sort of a career for himself up here, but he's a clogger from what I've seen, well suited to the league and can compensate for lack of natural quality.
All the best to the lad, not a bottler by any stretch...
Great game again from aiden, Falkirk* though to be fair. Not a part time side I hasten to add!!! Serious lack of respect for the scottish game in Ireland again on foot. :confused:
*should be on spl thread i know, but fair play Falkirk. A great little side playing football a positive way. Saw a Graham Barrett article earlier today somewhere praising their set-up. Anyone who watches the league will know about their style. St Mirren do a Rangers on Saturday an snatch a point, Falkirk play football tonight and get humped(scoreline wise). Know who I respect more. :ball:
McGeady never has been and never will be the tricksy dicksy winger people seem to think he is, doing countless stepovers and flicks and never getting anywhere. He is a skillful player playing wide in a system designed for interaction between the front two and the central mids (and fullbacks:eek:) in and around the box. By no means a bit-of-skill-down-the-line-and-horse-it-in-merchant. He has had end product since 2004 but decision making (learning the game?) has let him down previously. I still think his shot is seriously weak though, but at least now a few are hitting the target.
I saw a compilation of Ronaldo's Utd goals on polsat tonight. what a cracking amount he's scored and I never really realised. If McGeady gets near that standard I'd be delighted.
Aidan McGeady thread?? :confused:
fed up coming on here to see people slating the SPL, Celtic and one of our own McGeady, hes still very young and learning, why can't people just appreciate him for what he is. When I saw last night he got a hat-trick I thought - ok maybe now people over here will acknowledge he's improving. how wrong I was :(:(
Simple really. A while back Artur Boruc compared McGeady to Ronaldo and DeManDeMyth recently added further comparison to the two. The bloke above said he didn't realise Ronaldo got so many goals and I responded to that.
Agree with the "why don't we just appreciate him for what he is?" query. The guy's clearly good and clearly improving. Good for him and hopefully good for us.
Always a joy to see him cut in from the wing and have a go as most of his goals seem to be like that. His passing has improved a huge amount too, especially his long range passes which were excellent against Falkirk.
I'm looking forward to seeing the lad start over fresh with Ireland under a manager who knows what he's talking about.
Actually, just on Cristiano Ronaldo. His goals ratio is incredible at the minute but what would be a typical Ronaldo "assist"? He doesn't seem to try too many through balls, crosses, long balls. Off the top of my head it's usually beat a player or two, get into the danger zone and lay a goal on a plate with a basic short pass. I'd like to see more of that from McGeady. if he beats a player he usually wants to get the ball into the box asap. In saying that, I think his through balls are very good.
A few words we'll all be happy to hear:
“It wasn't one of my best performances but in terms of end product I can't argue with three goals. That's my first senior hat-trick and it makes it extra special.
I'll probably never have another game like that in my life with three goals from three chances. Normally my finishing is not the best part of my game but everything I hit seemed to go in.
“I think there is a different side to my game now and I'm adding goals and assists. It's good to be seeing the fruits of my labour.
Any time I play I'm relied on to create or score. The onus was on Shunsuke Nakamura last season but he is out of the team and it has shifted to me. I'm thriving on that.
You are always going to have doubters, but I hope I've silenced a few who say I've no end product. I still have a long way to go though. Three goals does not paper over all of the cracks and I still have loads to work on.”
His attitude is really pleasing. Appears to have his head screwed on and is willing to put in the work. See Derek Riordan for an opposite example, or perhaps our own Stokes (though I don't this for sure).
Probably the most important attribute for a young player.
Good luck to him. I'd like to see him strengthen up a little bit, maybe more weights work for his upper body? - whenever he plays for Ireland he seems to get knocked off the ball too easily but the fella has great ability and could be one of our main men in the next world cup campaign. I know Strachan has been trying to work on his end product and by all accounts this is paying dividends for Celtic this season.
What would you Celtic fans say his best position is? Is he better on the wings or would you use him in a free role?
I still think atm left midfield is his best position with the freedom to drift inside. He could play as a 2nd striker but I don't think he's ready for a free role just yet.
I say keep him on the right wing, he'll go all day & now that the end product has started to appear there should be plenty of crosses from him for JVOH to miss :mad:!!! He's well able to get to the by line as the Shaktar game for example showed when he pulled back for massimos goal.
Strachan was asked if he had considered playing 3 at the back because the full backs are all injured. His reply seemed to focus on McGeady.
"You would have to have two wing-backs. Who is going to do that? Is Aiden going to be a wing-back?
"You would need three in the middle of the park. Is Aiden going to play in the middle of the park?
"That's the problem. We don't have wing-backs as such. And your system is built around your best players. Maybe if we had top, top wing-backs, perhaps it would be an option.
"But where then do you play Aiden? Off the front? He's not as good there as he is playing in an attacking wide position."
Really seems to be building his team around McGeady from that answer. Its good for him I suppose but surely its a little bit premature, I've been massively impressed by McGeady this season but give it a few more months before you start making him the fulcrum of the team, the lad is flying now, why put extra pressue on just yet?
I can see the logic but he has had good spells before (although nowhere near as good and as consistent as this one) and drifted back again. Maybe he will respond well to the extra responsibility, but maybe putting extra pressure on him in front of 60,000 people to carry the team at the age of 21 is a bit too much too soon. McGeady ain't broke, why fix him?
That said, I get the feeling Strachan knows what he is doing up there, and believe me when I say I would love to be proved wrong!