Aiden McGeady M Ayr Utd b.1986

[jmurphyc]

What position is this? I presume you mean centre back. It still remains to be seen if he's any good there.

He's played well there whenever he's played for Ireland. From what I've seen of him (and I've watched a fair bit of him) he's best as a central defender. It's obvious he isn't a natural full back or defensive midfielder.

He's a valuable member of their squad for his versatility. It's a squad game these days, anyone can see that. Especially at a "Big 4" club. Very few would leave Old Trafford voluntarily in fairness. I can't think of anyone off the top of my head who did in the last 20 years...Fergie gets rid of them by hook or by crook - those he wants to stay, stay. You're not going to have the chance to reach a Champions League final with Birmingham, Newcastle, Spurs or Everton.

I don't think he's a particularly valuable member of the squad. He's only a player who comes in for the last part of the match or who plays in a game that Man Utd should win easily to give other players a rest. I understand that it's difficult to leave such a successful club, especially when he's on a decent wage, but the fact is that he would have become a much better player had he moved on a few years ago, and may have become so good that one of the "big 4" would have signed him later on. I think staying at Man Utd has been detrimental to his development. I don't see how anyone could argue that point. Who knows, maybe he'll have an Indian summer and become an excellent player like Dunne, but the chances of this are unlikely unless he leaves, which I doubt he will.

Check out his appearance stats for this season, btw. A hell of a lot of them were starts too.

http://www.soccerbase.com/players_de...playerid=18121

He's started 6 league games out of 26. I don't think that's a great percentage. He's played 673 minutes out of a possible 2340 in the league. That's less than 30%. No player his age should be happy with playing that little game time. Don't get me wrong, I actually like John O'Shea, but I just think he could have done a lot better for himself by leaving Man Utd. I just think that it's down to laziness and fear of leaving a relatively cushy life behind that has prevented him from leaving.

[EAFC_rdfl]

way of topic but for what its worth, this time last year O'Shea would probably have played on Saturday for United in the cup, the reason he isn't this season is probably Anderson, Nani and to a lesser extent (due to injury) Hargreaves. He would now be 3-4 places further back in the pecking order for a midfield spot, last season he was getting a place in midfield regular enough. also the form of uniteds back four isn't helping him. Maybe he will go at the end of the season as this is the 1st that he's been well outside the first 15

[jmurphyc]

I really hope for our sake and his sake he does leave at the end of the season, but I really don't think it's going to happen. He's comfortable at United. He could get a league winners medal, possibly a champions league one, and I think that these factors are enough for him to stay.

[Nipper]

Jmurph, how do you quote individual sections like that, I've never worked it out?

[paul_oshea]

if mcgeady gets man of the match tonight, ill take my hat off and say that I was being harsh on him, but i reckon tonight we might see very little from him...

[jmurphyc]

Jmurph, how do you quote individual sections like that, I've never worked it out?

You just copy and paste the [Quote...] bits where you want them. A bit long winded, but quite simple once you work it out. Perhaps there's another way of doing it, but that's how I do it anyway.

[EAFC_rdfl]

if mcgeady gets man of the match tonight, ill take my hat off and say that I was being harsh on him, but i reckon tonight we might see very little from him...

Don't think tonight will be about individual performances from Celtic, they need to play well as a team rather than one man trying to do something special and Strachan will know this.
I think there are people on here who will never give him the credit he deserves for what ever reasons

Nipper you can press the quote button against more than one post

[jmurphyc]

if mcgeady gets man of the match tonight, ill take my hat off and say that I was being harsh on him, but i reckon tonight we might see very little from him...

Yeah, I'd say his begrudgers (not saying you're one of them) would have to admit that he's an excellent talent and that he could succeed outside of Scotland. However, it could be a difficult game for him to get into. I'd like to see Celtic go through, if only for McGeady's sake.

[eirebhoy]

I've never seen a Celtic player get to much hype before a game in years than McGeady for this game. Lets hope he lives up to it.

[paul_oshea]

ya, im not a begrudger, it might comes across like that sometimes, but I'm more of a realist. I think of players like cantona ( exception maybe liverpool fa cup final ), never ever did it in the big games ( well moreso in europe )when it was really needed of him, especially in Europe, whereas you look at keane and he did. Even ronaldo, really struggled last year against milan home and away. I think this is what makes a legend, someone who can do it on every and any occassion. It doesn't matter whether or not its a team performance or not tonight ( mcgeady isn't know for is defending so he is certainly not playing on the idea everyone gets stuck in ), if mcgeady is what ppl make out him to be, then tonight he should still be able do this, maybe just not everytime he gets the ball - like against aberdeen for example - but he should still be able to do it. This will really prove his worth and if he does then hats off. If he can do it in the nou camp too, then he really has the potential to be world class.

[Nipper]

(Can't work out the quotes, and sorry to drag this off topic! This is all I have to say on it.)

I'm not so sure if CB is O'Shea's best position, even for us. When he first burst onto the scene he looked an excellent fullback, coming second to Rooney as Young Player of the Year that year. At the centre, he's always looked capable of a mistake which he might get away with out left or right or in midfield. He also scored more goals in the league than Shevchenko last season!

A jack of all trades if ever there was one, but sometimes that's what's needed when a club is playing 60 games a season. For Ireland, he is practically a guaranteed starter (so far), but if our young players develop he might find himself sidelined and plugging holes for us too. Having a specialised position is more important at International level. Less games, less time together to try different systems...

It's not a fact by any means that he would have developed any better if he went to a different club. I'm sure the coaching he has received at Man Utd is of a pretty high standard. It could have gone pearshaped for him quite easily had he moved to Newcastle or somewhere. He must have the self-belief to think he'll force his way into Fergie's plans or he wouldn't have got as far as he has in the first place. Coming through the ranks at that club is like going through the eye of a needle.

Ok, you pointed out his number of starts this season and they seem lower than I had reckoned, but he has played 222 times for the club, 65 of those from the bench. Not too bad really.

Ferguson sees him play every day and is willing to hand him a four-year deal at 50k a week, he must be doing something right.

For us, he's been a bit of a conundrum, and hopefully Trap will sort this out one way or the other.

[EAFC_rdfl]

Don't think tonight will be about individual performances from Celtic, they need to play well as a team rather than one man trying to do something special and Strachan will know this.
I think there are people on here who will never give him the credit he deserves for what ever reasons

Nipper you can press the quote button against more than one post

ya, im not a begrudger, it might comes across like that sometimes, but I'm more of a realist. It doesn't matter whether or not its a team performance or not tonight ( mcgeady isn't know for is defending so he is certainly not playing on the idea everyone gets stuck in ), if mcgeady is what ppl make out him to be, then tonight he should still be able do this, maybe just not everytime he gets the ball - like against aberdeen for example - but he should still be able to do it. This will really prove his worth and if he does then hats off. If he can do it in the nou camp too, then he really has the potential to be world class.

http://www.celticfc.net/news/stories...208170229.aspx
Celtic manager Strachan must be reading my mind our something ..... emphasising teamwork over individuals!

PS this isnt anything against POS, I accept your opinion and I don't think you're a begrudger, its your right to reserve judgement

[paul_oshea]

EAFC, thats fair enough, he is taking the heat off mcgeady, thats smart management. Take the pressure and focus off mcgeady, the idea for celtic is to play and gel as a team, as individually they are not as good as Barcelona, by playing for eactother and like Ireland under the charlton days, the sum of the parts is better than the individuals. But at the end of the day Mcgeady - no matter what Strachan says to the media - is there for one thing and one thing only, and it is not for his defensive capabilities ( which is what is really meant by teamwork, everyone helping everyone else out, getting behind the ball, tracking back to help out defensively, picking up players etc etc ) its for his attacking ability, when Celtic ( go on the counter ) attack.

[tetsujin1979]

Celtic definitely have a better chance of winning with McGeady starting.

              |                 Home                               |                       Away                         |                       Total                                      
              | Starts  Wins   % Won  Draws  % Drawn Losses % Lost | Starts  Wins   % Won  Draws  % Drawn Losses % Lost | Starts  Wins   % Won  Draws  % Drawn Losses % Lost
Aiden McGeady |     16    12      75      3    18.75      1   6.25 |     13     8   61.54      1     7.69      4  30.77 |     29    20   68.97      4    13.79      5  17.24
Celtic        |     18    13   72.22      4    22.22      1   5.56 |     18    10   55.56      2    11.11      6  33.33 |     36    23   63.89      6    16.67      7  19.44

Seeing as how he's started the majority of Celtic's games this season, I didn't think the figures would be that different, but there you go

[geysir]

The stats are drastically different when starting for Ireland.

[paul_oshea]

Celtic definitely have a better chance of winning with McGeady starting.

              |                 Home                               |                       Away                         |                       Total                                      
              | Starts  Wins   % Won  Draws  % Drawn Losses % Lost | Starts  Wins   % Won  Draws  % Drawn Losses % Lost | Starts  Wins   % Won  Draws  % Drawn Losses % Lost
Aiden McGeady |     16    12      75      3    18.75      1   6.25 |     13     8   61.54      1     7.69      4  30.77 |     29    20   68.97      4    13.79      5  17.24
Celtic        |     18    13   72.22      4    22.22      1   5.56 |     18    10   55.56      2    11.11      6  33.33 |     36    23   63.89      6    16.67      7  19.44

Seeing as how he's started the majority of Celtic's games this season, I didn't think the figures would be that different, but there you go

Tets maybe im being a bit thick, but what difference does that make?! 1 game is the only difference in wins?!

[eirebhoy]

You need to scroll over to the Total.

[Irish_Praha]

So they have a 5% greater chance of winning if McGeady plays. Sorry to sound dismissive but that hardly counts as a significant difference. Probably well within the margins of error too. Anyway as the table shows Celtic either win or draw over 80% of the time so even if he was a super player he couldn't help improve that by a lot.
As he is a creative player an interesting comparison would be to compare the goals/shots on goal when he starts to when he doesn't start.
Maybe even work out the the average minutes between each shot/goal when he's not on the pitch and when he is on the pitch, might be too much work for an silly football fact though

[eirebhoy]

Barca were absolutely phenomenal. Simply the best, most accomplished performance I've ever seen at Celtic park. I doubt Celtic had less of the ball at home in about 20 years. McGeady did well though and he was really the difference in the first half as his runs led to both goals.

[irishfan86]

McGeady had a good first half, playing a part in both goals, but the Celtic team as a whole began to tire early into the second half.

Barca dominated possession in the second half and McGeady hardly had any of the ball, which is hardly his fault.

Simply too much firepower for Celtic to overcome I think.