QuoteMcGeady press conference from yesterday:
http://www.celticfc.net/channel67/presser.aspx
Starts off with questions about Ireland.
He won SPL young player of the month for the 2nd month running.
this is McGeadys time to step up as he is the only decent player left with that team
duff has gone to **** and keane is a good premiership player but not in the same class
McGeady press conference from yesterday:
http://www.celticfc.net/channel67/presser.aspx
Starts off with questions about Ireland.
He won SPL young player of the month for the 2nd month running.
Thanks for that link, seems like a genuinely nice guy.
Latest icons.com entry:
Monday 16th October 2006
I don't want to miss the Benfica game
I am still slightly troubled by the ankle injury that I suffered whilst training with Ireland last week. I just went over on ankle and that kept me out of the game against the Czech Republic in Dublin last Wedneday and Celtic’s match with Dundee United at Tannadice at the weekend. It’s sore when I am kicking the ball and twisting and turning. So I’ll have a fitness test on Tuesday morning, before the Champions League match with Benfica.
It was sore on Sunday and then not really much better today. When I’m twisting and turning is when it hurts - and that is a key part of my game. So if it is going to hinder me there is no point in playing. It is similar to the injury that Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink has got although not quite as bad.
My injury came along after I had made my first competitive start for Ireland; away to Cyprus. That wasn’t a great game to play in - we lost 5-2 - but I had been looking forward to the Czech match as I think I was going to be playing in that one as well.
I thought I played all right against the Cypriots although there were things I could have done better. The team as a whole didn’t get off to the best of starts and we gifted them a few chances. Cyprus are not a bad team. They’ve got a couple of decent players who play for Olympiakos but we should still be beating them.
It would be disappointing if I were to miss the match with Benfica; these are the games in which you really want to play. I know that they’re a good team from last year, when they put Manchester United out of the Champions League, so we know what we’re up against. Benfica will be looking to get a few more points since they’ve only got one so far and that means it’s going to be tough. A win for us would be great and would really set us up well at the halfway point in our group.
I think the fans will be right to expect us to attack in this game - we’ll be going all out to win the game. I also see Benfica attacking us. Portuguese teams have a bit of flair so I’d expect they will be looking to use that against us. I’ve seen clips of the Copenhagen-Benfica draw and they looked OK in that game. At home against Manchester United three weeks ago, I thought Benfica were unlucky not to get a draw. They’ve got some good players so they will make for difficult opposition.
With Thomas Gravesen ruled out because of injury, Evander Sno looks likely to get the chance to start against Benfica. He has done well since he came over from Feyenoord in the summer. It has taken him a bit of time to get used to the game here but he has done well when he has come into the team - he played well in the friendly at Chelsea and in the game against St Mirren. So it is only fair he should start against Benfica. He’s a confident guy, confident in his own talent and he has a big imposing presence - he must be about six feet one.
Champions League evenings are always great at Celtic Park. I just don’t want to be disappointed and miss out on this one through this injury.
Tricks and treats of a Bhoy wonder
Aiden Mcgeady's relationship with a football has always been an intimate affair. Even now, when his Celtic team-mates drift off for the day, the 20-year-old will slip away to a corner of Barrowfield with a ball under his arm and the afternoon stretching out before him.
A passion for the artful, creative aspects of the beautiful game has always informed his outlook. As a youngster, inspired by videos of Diego Maradona, McGeady would practise keeping up a tennis ball 500 times and a golf ball 200 times. DVDs of the Argentinian genius still line his shelves.
"People focus on the England game [when a Maradona-inspired Argentina won 2-1 against England in the quarter-final of the '86 World Cup], but I've got stuff of when he was growing up, aged 17 and 18, and he's different class," enthused McGeady. "I love Ryan Giggs too. I've always liked players who were good at going past opponents."
As a youngster, he instinctively knew that achieving mastery of a ball would allow him to express his natural talents. In the increasingly athletic world of professional football, it is testament to his resolve that he has not abandoned his passion for skills – witness his mesmerising turn near the touchline against Falkirk last month. Thankfully, he is not alone.
Ronaldinho, the ultimate modern skills disciple, combines the required levels of physicality with electric spontaneity and a beguiling array of tricks. Cristiano Ronaldo, the Manchester United winger, announced last month that he had mastered a new trick and would unveil it in forthcoming matches.
Their influences have spread to top-level coaching, an acknowledgement that skills have more to offer than mere entertainment value. At Old Trafford, a skills development coach, Dutchman Rene Meulensteen, is employed to bring about a fusion of British zeal and Brazilian flair in their young recruits, while other Premiership clubs have gone down a similar route. Celtic's own prodigious academy has been quick to embrace the increased emphasis on ball skills, and McGeady's legacy endures.
He references his coach at under-14 level, Martin Miller, as pivotal in the development of his ball skills. In turn, Miller, and other Celtic youth coaches, now indoctrinate pretenders to his throne with three variants of the "McGeady turn". Twenty other skills practices are also taught in a welcome attempt to revive aspects of Scotland's tanner ba' players.
"It's nice to see, it puts a smile on your face," says McGeady of his army of acolytes in the club's youth set-up. "When I was growing up, I always used to do those sort of things [tricks]. I still stay behind a lot after training and practice. Some people think 'he's just fannying about' but, when you go past somebody, it's great. People go to games to enjoy themselves after all."
Yet McGeady's individualist streak has also brought with it its own challenges, and a dawning realisation that it is not enough just to have magic in his toes and tricks up his sleeve. His head-to-head with Gary Neville in Celtic's 3-2 defeat by Manchester United in the Champions League proved a chastening experience.
"You can really feel the difference in level moving from the SPL to the Champions League. You learn more about yourself," he reflected. "When I was playing against Neville I found it difficult to get on the ball. I always seemed to get the ball with my back towards the goal and never got a chance to run at him.
"But you have to remember that he's been at the top level for 10-15 years. In games like that, you must learn what movements to make to get on the ball. If you have a bad game, you need to learn from it."
It could be Gordon Strachan talking. The Celtic manager has worked diligently to add a much-needed dimension to McGeady's play: to turn him into a rounded team player without blunting his creativity.
"I knew that when I played under Martin O'Neill I was far from the finished article," he reflected. "I was young and trying to do too much on the ball. Now, the manager will regularly take me aside in training and show me the best ways of getting on the ball.
"I've added a lot to my game in terms of working hard to get back and creating chances for others. I know now that I can't run with the ball every time I get it. I feel like a different player. I've made progress in important parts of my game and that's down to Gordon Strachan and his backroom staff."
As a footballer, Strachan was cut from the same cloth as McGeady; a bundle of creative energy with playmaking responsibility heaped upon his slim shoulders. Both share a single-minded streak, even a natural abrasiveness, which leads to the occasional locking of horns.
In the 1-0 win at Aberdeen in September, McGeady thought he played well. Strachan didn't. The 20-year-old shrugs, a tacit acceptance that creative conflict is part and parcel of a dressing-room environment.
"Sometimes I come in and feel like I've played well, but he'll pick up parts of my game that could have been better. You can feel disheartened at times . . . but it also shows that he has belief in me and wants me to improve. He is trying to get the best out of me and that can only be a good thing.
"Sometimes he shouts my name and I know what's coming, but it's usually because I've been out of position. Some people might think that I get it a bit more than other players, but it's probably because I play wide. He shouts at Naka [Shunsuke Nakamura] too, but the difference is that he doesn't understand him!"
Celtic's 1-0 away win against Falkirk at the start of October was a microcosm of how far he has come. After a disappointing first 45, he composed himself at half time, finally found form after the interval and duly scored a late winner.
"A year and a half ago, if I had started like I did against Falkirk then I would have gone on to have a beast of a game. But I just thought to myself at half time: 'I'll go for it again' and it worked out well."
Strachan's preference for fast, expansive football has also allowed playmakers like McGeady, and Nakamura, to flourish. "We play a bit more to feet than under Martin O'Neill. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that because Martin had a lot of success. Before Jan [Vennegoor of Hesselink], we didn't have a big target-man, so it was more to feet.
"That's the way football should be played. We have a lot of good technical players now and the style suits the team. It's great playing with guys like Naka because it encourages you to be on the same wavelength. He's added an awful lot to the team."
For a flair player, McGeady is no shrinking violet. Out of his training kit, he is deceptively muscular, a product of hours in the gym. In September's Old Firm game, one of his first acts was to dive into a bonecruncher with Alan Hutton. Alex Rae, the former Rangers midfield enforcer, will also testify to McGeady's steel after losing his front tooth in a challenge with him back in January 2005.
"When I was younger I just got the ball and ran at players. Nothing more was expected of me. No-one ever said to me: 'You're a good tackler'. But it's expected of me now because I've shown that I've got that side to my game. I know I'm not the biggest, but you always want to hold your own on the pitch."
The 20-year-old started the season as the first-choice left midfielder but an ankle injury which coincided with the return of Shaun Maloney presented him with a fresh challenge. Competition for places, though, is nothing new.
"It's difficult because it's such a big club and they can just go out and buy a world-class player. I thought I was playing all right when the club bought Juninho and then I got bombed, although I did manage to get back in.
"It's now all about being a regular in the team. And [staying in the team] is not about doing it in flashes, you have to be consistent. Having said that, it could be 0-0 with 15 minutes to go and you're expected to pop up and do something. That's fine, though. I'm happy with the pressure."
Sorry if this is covered elsewhere. I assume McGeady didnt play last night due to injury/lack of match fitness. Is this the case or is he just not getting onto the team?
I was going to ask the same question? Why was McGeady just on the bench in a big game?
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
Strachan is favouring Maloney atm. Maloney's a top player so I would read too much into it.
I was hoping he'd bring on either McGeady or Maloney in the 2nd half as there was very little attacking options down either flank from Celtic. Strachan just went for what he thought was the right team for this particular game. Wouldn't read much into it like eirebhoy says.
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It's been a very fast fall from grace for McGeady. Every1 agreed he was Celtics best player in the first couple of months of the season and now he's not even getting a run in their biggest game.
Maybe it was the fact he had a shocker against Man u at Old Trafford
Hardly a fall from grace methinks. Just different tactics for a different game. Agree though that the fact he was poor in OT MIGHT have had a bearing on it.
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You could say the same about Maloney. He was the best player in the league last season, as soon as he gets an injury he loses his place. At the moment Maloney is still the better of the 2 players imo.Originally Posted by lionelhutz
Obviously you see Maloney a lot more than me but to me he is just one of those players who scampers around the place to no great effect and I would be disappointed to see McGeady losing his place out to him.
I'd be worried if Strachan doesn't see McGeady as a player to use in a game Celtic can't afford to lose (i.e. he's not effective going back).
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
McGeady still does not provide enough consistency, end product or goals to get me even remotely excited about him. He prances about on the pitch most of the time like he's an extra from Riverdance without adding anything to the game.
He needs to improve big time if he's to fulfill any of the supposed potential it's claimed that he's shown since his early teens. At the mo he shouldn't be let near our starting 11.
I'd still have Duff on the left with A Reid as backup with A Reid on the right with Elliot or Doyle as backup instead of upfront (both can play there).
Fed up with this McGeady adulation. As someone who regarded by so called "everyone" as one of the best players in scotland he didnt get his game when it mattered. Cetic played Sno who is also 20 ahead of McGeady and nobody has ever called him brilliant. McGeady should be playing if he is worth even a tiny fraction of the hype
McGeady looked out of place in the first match against man u. His party tricks failed to fool neville on the right and he was quite ineffective. By going with Sno was strachan maybe playing more for the draw? I know at Feyenoord Sno was used as a defensive midfielder and played in defence quite a bit.
I don't know what you've seen of Maloney but he's an excellent player. Great goalscorer for a midfielder, sets up tons of goals and has a real intelligience which McGeady could do with. Very similar player to Joe Cole. Celtic could sign Aaron Lennon and he'd be doing well to get into the team ahead of Maloney and Nakamura which probably puts McGeady's challenge into perspective.
McGeady was rubbish at Old Trafford but I can't remember him trying to beat Neville once.
Well he was in the last Dutch squad so van Basten must think he has potential. McGeady's hardly in competition for his place anyway.
I said it before but I'm certain McGeady will make it big. A showboater like McGeady will always be on the backfoot from the start. 90% of people slag off Ronaldo but he'd still walk almost any team in the world.
Last edited by eirebhoy; 22/11/2006 at 5:45 PM.
Big difference. Ronaldo is almost the same age as McGeady yet is one of the first names on the United teamsheet. He's also week in and week out up against some of the best defenders in the world unlike McGeady who (when not warming the bench) is generally playing against sub standard sh*te. Also he's played in two major international championships and has been impressive in both. Oh yeah and he scores goals.
I'm a fan of McGeady, but I do worry if he's going to make it. I've seen clips of James McFadden when he played in Scotland and he looked very McGeady like at times. Has faded since.
Scoring the odd spectacular goal is a sign of class, but unless you're playing week in, week out and turning it on in 90% of your games, you're not going to make it at the top.
100 % agree. He needs to be making his mark at his age. I would also prefer him to get a move to a more competitive league if he's going to be needed by Ireland.
Flashback to Liam Miller. Looked like class when young and at Celtic but proved not to be good enough in more competitive football.
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