UK Pre-season games

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Originally Posted by paul_oshea

EB, you are always raving about mcgeady, less so the last year ( maybe because of his performances for ireland and what ppl on here have been saying )but before you were always going on about him!!!! :)

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Not at all mate. That's rubbish to be honest. "Less so in the last year" because he hasn't been playing well since October. I tell you exactly how I think he played. I don't overrate him or overhype him. The McGeady of July-October '06 deserved to be hyped up though. In the first 10 games of the season he set up 7 goals, scored a match winner, was man of the match about 7 times and was easily the best player in the SPL. That's how good he was then. Maybe because so many people are yet to see that form from him they think I overrate him. I'd ask them to watch Celtic play on Setanta before dismissing my opinion.

btw, I don't watch much English football. My judgement of Stokes is based on his time at Falkirk. I've actually not seen much of him at all in a Sunderland shirt but I stick by my opinion that he has all the attributes to score many goals up front.

The only time I came close to overrating McGeady was saying he'll be our star player in about 8 years ffs. :D

McGeady is extremely talented. He is still very light and can be easily outmuscled and and he needs to use his head more. But I think he will be an important player for us in the next two or three years.

Unfortunately McGeady needs to prove himself to a lot of the Celtic support and not just Ireland fans, EB.
The pelters he gets from the stands at Parkhead if he loses possession can be outrageous.Personally I'm a massive fan of his, but like you, would be worried about his confidence. I suppose its just the nature of the player he is, that the skilful, creative types tend to get more abuse and are treated with more suspicion than a solid play-the-safe-ball type of player.
I think teams need players like him in the side. Ireland has been suffering too long with solid but unspectacular 'workers' clogging up the midfield - Kilbane, S Reid,Holland, Kinsella, Kav etc etc. I know you need these players too, but its important to have a creative spark or two there, and McGeady provides that. He's been sh!t hot in pre season so far so hopefully this form will continue. I'll be at Parkhead every second week this season so I can keep ye all up to date on his progress. DISCLAIMER : I'm unbelievably biased in favour of Aiden so don't say I didn't warn ya!
Also it'll be interesting to see if he gets any time playing in the 'hole' like against Milan at the San Siro where he had a savage game. I think over time this might be his best position.

On another note, I'm living in Leith and every Hibee I've spoken to is delighted with Alan O Brien so far. Early days I know but at least he'll be playing every week in a good footballing side. Will be interesting to see how he gets on.This time next year I wouldn't be surprised if Hibs were collecting a few pence for him.

Watching Cork vs Sunderland, at the start Cork looked more like a rugby side than football. Only 3 real chances, two fell to Stern John who blasted one over and one wide and Dan Murray also had a chance but put it into the side netting. Miller hasn't done much and when he has it hasn't been to great. Connolly had a 2 minute period where his touch eluded him but besides that has been decent, has been forced to drop into the midfield a bunch due to the fact that the midfielders are doing great.

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

Qwerty said to me a while back that I've been "heavily backing" Whelan, McGeady, Potter and Stokes so he'll take my opinion with a pinch of salt. I don't know where that came from. Some people are probably mixing up me following players progress with over hyping them. As I said, Stokes and McShane I rave about. The first time I sang Potter's praises was in the Ecuador game where he was motm by a mile imo.

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I believe that McGeady will be a great player for Ireland, possibly our most naturally talented player in the current squad.

McShane is overated though I'd really love to see him come through. He messed up against the Czechs & San Marino yet is forgiven for errors that the likes of McGeady would be crucified for. If (re another thread) Ferdinand declared for us we would see himself & Dunne occupy the CB roles for the next x years, with only a cover role for McShane and the real challenge from O'Dea.

If Potter makes it big, I will have to re-consider my position on Lazarus ...... & Elvis too.

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Originally Posted by theworm2345

Watching Cork vs Sunderland, at the start Cork looked more like a rugby side than football. .

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Cork's the team in green and white

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Originally Posted by Paddy Garcia

McShane is overated though I'd really love to see him come through. He messed up against the Czechs & San Marino yet is forgiven for errors that the likes of McGeady would be crucified for.

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The San Marino goal was a bit mad alright but what did McShane do wrong against the Czechs?

Great goal from Miller - terrible miss by Stokes !!!

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

The San Marino goal was a bit mad alright but what did McShane do wrong against the Czechs?

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I know all the noise was about O'Shea, but ultimately it was down to McShane to block the shot, and he reacted to slowly.

OK, final impressions

Miller: Besides for his great run that lead to his goal he wasn't that great, many of his crosses went awry though besides that he was decent.
Connolly: Same as first, had a 2 minute period where his touch eluded him but besides that has been decent, has been forced to drop into the midfield a bunch due to the fact that the midfielders are doing great. Started off the 2nd with some good passes that could've lead to better thing. Came off for Stokes
Murphy: I sort of tuned out towards the end but looked good enough
Stokes: Looked much better than Saturday, passed more, aside from a horrible miss (the chance wasn't easy but the shot was terrible) he was OK.
O'Donoghue: Didn't really get into the game that much, looked good enough

Theworm, you should watch a few more football matches before you embarrass yourself with comments like that. Cork (know for having a shallow squad in the first place) fielded half a team, sat back because they couldn't be bothered expending energy in a meaningless fixture and laughed off Sunderland's attacks. You have to remember that they're accustomed to playing against top strikers like Nikola Zigic. David Connolly? Stern John? Who the **** are they?

It was only when Cork replaced their (absurdly comfortable) defenders that Sunderland make a breakthrough. For the last twenty minutes Cork were bringing on players I'd never heard of at regular intervals and still didn't look like conceding.

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Originally Posted by Sheridan

Theworm, you should watch a few more football matches before you embarrass yourself with comments like that. Cork (know for having a shallow squad in the first place) fielded half a team, sat back because they couldn't be bothered expending energy in a meaningless fixture and laughed off Sunderland's attacks. You have to remember that they're accustomed to playing against top strikers like Nikola Zigic. David Connolly? Stern John? Who the **** are they?

It was only when Cork replaced their (absurdly comfortable) defenders that Sunderland make a breakthrough. For the last twenty minutes Cork were bringing on players I'd never heard of at regular intervals and still didn't look like conceding.

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You're joking right?

Cork gave a runout to a load of players who I had never heard of; Bohs were the same on Sunday by the end of the match, although they did start with 4 who had played the previous night vs UCD. Games like this are a money making tool for Irish teams and no more; Owen Heary said in an interview on the Bohs website he couldn't be bothered playing in them as the league is what's important to him. Sunderland with their millions of pounds worth of signings playing managed a 1 0 and a 1 1 against 2 second string eircom league teams. Fair enough it was their pre-season, but from attending the first game they look distinctly average, and it can't be their quality of football that is attracting the bandwagon jumpers of Ireland. Anyway, I hope they do well in the premiership because of all their Irish players, but if they do, it shows just how mediocre a league it really is.

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Originally Posted by misterk

Cork gave a runout to a load of players who I had never heard of; Bohs were the same on Sunday by the end of the match, although they did start with 4 who had played the previous night vs UCD. Games like this are a money making tool for Irish teams and no more; Owen Heary said in an interview on the Bohs website he couldn't be bothered playing in them as the league is what's important to him. Sunderland with their millions of pounds worth of signings playing managed a 1 0 and a 1 1 against 2 second string eircom league teams. Fair enough it was their pre-season, but from attending the first game they look distinctly average, and it can't be their quality of football that is attracting the bandwagon jumpers of Ireland. Anyway, I hope they do well in the premiership because of all their Irish players, but if they do, it shows just how mediocre a league it really is.

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And where did I say Sunderland played well? I said a few players were decent (who, compared to the rest of the players on the pitch, were) and some were "good enough" which doesn't exactly imply that they were good.
By the way, this is a typo

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bunch due to the fact that the midfielders are doing great.

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why would someone drop into the midfield if the midfielders are doing great?

Keano seems to agree with me to some degree
http://www.safc.com/news/?page_id=12779

Exactly Misterk.

I thought that Bohs and Corks' second teams looked comfortable with everything Sunderland had to throw at them. I cant' see Sunderland avoiding relegation this season - they looked very poor for a Premiership side.

Of the Irish internationals on show, I personally thought that Colin Healy was the best player on the park last night. Once he gets fully match fit he'll be a massive player for Cork.

I wasn't impressed with Liam Miller - Colin Healy had him in his pocket. He took his goal well but there was very questionable defending leading up to the goal.
Connolly didn't do anything for me.
Murphy came on the pitch when Cork had their U21 team on the field. He still looks like a Waterford United player to me.
Stokes probably has too much expectation on his shoulders but does look dangerous when he has the ball facing the opposition's goal.
I saw that chap O'Donoghue coming on to the field as a sub. The next time I saw him he was shaking somebody's hand at the end. A long way from the first-team at Sunderland.

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Originally Posted by Paddy Garcia

I know all the noise was about O'Shea, but ultimately it was down to McShane to block the shot, and he reacted to slowly.

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I'd fault Henderson but not McShane. He was the one to react late.

Miller (took his goal well to be fair) and Connolly were awful last night. Gave the ball away too often or held onto the ball too long. Cannot see them getting much game time this season. Sunderland are going to struggle unless Keano brings in some extra faces. Stokes and Murphy made more of an impact and brought about a bit more urgency but I have to say Cork played very well.

was i the only one who couldnt get sound on that match last night?

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Originally Posted by paul_oshea

was i the only one who couldnt get sound on that match last night?

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There's no sound on live transmissions for those of us outside of Ireland. Don't know why they have started to do this.

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Originally Posted by paul_oshea

was i the only one who couldnt get sound on that match last night?

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There was sound alright - Commentary As Gaeilge!!