Aiden McGeady M Ayr Utd b.1986

[jebus]

What nonsense are ye all talking in here? If Villa or a bigger club come in for McGeady he should go? What makes ye think that any club with any aspirations would come in for as limited a player as McGeady? He's shockingly bad at crossing, dribbling, passing, and well everything bar him having a bit of pace. He's our version of Darius Vassell in short

McGeady is a joke, Celtic are a joke, and the SPL is a joke, so they're all suited really

[Lim till i die]

Word is going around that McGeady and Strachan have hardly spoken since the Rangers game after Strachan shouted at him at half time and McGeady answered back angrily. It was supposed to be for backing out of a challenge in the lead up to the Rangers goal and if it was I could understand McGeady because I know that Strachan would let many a player off for something similar.

This is the most blinkered thing I have read on foot.ie ever and that is saying an awful, awful lot.

Strachan has a go at him for bottling out in an Old Firm game and Strachan is the bad guy.

You sir are priceless

he still played the pass to Duff which led to the goal

I realise Darron Gibson's selection may have raised a few eyebrows but when the requirements for doing well for Ireland apparently amount to an ability to play a ball three yards square then I don't see the prob.

Absolutely ludicrous giving a professional footballer credit for that.

I'd ask you to take off the green and white tinted specs but I fear you'd only be rendered completely blind then.

McGeady was an absolute farce last night, gave the ball away literally dozens of times.

I actually remember saying to one of the lads while watching it last night that eventhough he was rubbish the mongos would all rave about him because he can do a few fancy tricks.

May I suggest picking a large, highly trained seal to play on the wing the next time??

Then everyone's a winner.

Don't worry though, I'm sure he'll be fantastic again against Buckie Thistle or The Famous Grouse or Stone Of Scone or some such on Saturday.

Get a clue ffs.

[Donegalcelt]

or pike rovers?

[eirebhoy]

This is the most blinkered thing I have read on foot.ie ever and that is saying an awful, awful lot.

Strachan has a go at him for bottling out in an Old Firm game and Strachan is the bad guy.

You sir are priceless

Well then that has to be one of the most ignorant because I'm one of the rare Celtic fans that actually supports Strachan too. If Nakamura didn't give his all in a tackle Strachan would not berate him. Strachan wouldn't shout at Naka for a single thing and the same thing can be said about many a player. Maybe you need to get the clue.


I've the match on Sky+. I'll let you know how many dozen times he lost possession.

[Billsthoughts]

Its beyond me why people are criticising one of his first decent performances for Ireland. He did a couple of tricks that led to nothing but he also got about the pitch and worked hard.

[OneRedArmy]

He played ok, nothing better, nothing worse.

He really needs to improve his end product sooner rather than later.

[Billsthoughts]

The work-rate of our wingers was, again, of the highest standard and their defensive toil didn't hinder their initiative or spark.

Praise for Mageady from Brian Kerr today. Also criticised the "pernickity" crowd.

[Royal rover]

mcgeady is the most exciting prospect we have had since keane and duff arrived on the seen - lads i'll make a very bold statement by saying that even England would relish having someone with Mcgeady's abiltiy in the squad- i think if had a decent midfield partnership we could go to greater things - potentially going forward it's the best we have had for as long as i can remember , mcgeady will shine - i think if had of scored that goal towards the end everyone would be singing his praises

[tetsujin1979]

What nonsense are ye all talking in here? If Villa or a bigger club come in for McGeady he should go? What makes ye think that any club with any aspirations would come in for as limited a player as McGeady? He's shockingly bad at crossing, dribbling, passing, and well everything bar him having a bit of pace. He's our version of Darius Vassell in short

McGeady is a joke, Celtic are a joke, and the SPL is a joke, so they're all suited really

Villa to make £10 million bid for McGeady in January: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footba...5875-20812427/

Vassell is not a winger, he's a striker. He was pushed out there by Pearce to make up for a lack of wingers at the club at the time. He did the same thing with Ishmael Miller. Hughes played him up front in preseason, and he was scoring, but unfortunately he got injured in the last preseason friendly and is only getting back to fitness now.

[EAFC_rdfl]

What nonsense are ye all talking in here? If Villa or a bigger club come in for McGeady he should go? What makes ye think that any club with any aspirations would come in for as limited a player as McGeady? He's shockingly bad at crossing, dribbling, passing, and well everything bar him having a bit of pace. He's our version of Darius Vassell in short

McGeady is a joke, Celtic are a joke, and the SPL is a joke, so they're all suited really

have a look

fair enough it may be the daily mirror but it was on the radio earlier too. I guess Martin O'Neill must see something you don't. Then again, he's probably a joke too since he was involved with Celtic and the SPL

[jmurphyc]

Its beyond me why people are criticising one of his first decent performances for Ireland. He did a couple of tricks that led to nothing but he also got about the pitch and worked hard.

I don't see why I shouldn't be able to criticise him. I think he's had some decent performances in an Ireland jersey and I think he could be an excellent player for us in the very near future but during the second half on Wednesday I thought he was abysmal. Any time the ball was played to him I got worried. I wasn't screaming abuse at him - unlike some - but I do feel I should be able to critique our player's performances. Likewise, others are entitled to their opinion but I can't see how anyone thought he played well on the night. However, I'll still be 100% supportive of him in the future.

[geysir]

McGeady had a very good game on Wednesday, his best for us so far. He was running on fumes with 10 minutes to go.
His performances in the group games are improving game by game. I'd say Trap is well pleased with him and McGeady will be a fixture in the team.

[Billsthoughts]

I am not saying you dont have the right to criticise. Am saying he was better on wed than he has been in any previous games for us. He was constantly involved in the game and his workrate was brilliant. He made the most of the one difficult chance that fell his way. This team is all about players working hard to compensate for less than exceptional ability. You got to give the lad his due for his workrate and his willingness to show for the ball.

[Maroon 7]

Its beyond me why people are criticising one of his first decent performances for Ireland. He did a couple of tricks that led to nothing but he also got about the pitch and worked hard.

Some people just don't want to give him a chance. I think there's a certain whiff of anti-Celticness about some of it. Fair enough if he plays crap he deserves criticism but the general opinion of this week's game is that he done fairly well with plenty of room for improvement but some are still intent on slating him no matter what.

[Razors left peg]

Some people just don't want to give him a chance. I think there's a certain whiff of anti-Celticness about some of it. Fair enough if he plays crap he deserves criticism but the general opinion of this week's game is that he done fairly well with plenty of room for improvement but some are still intent on slating him no matter what.

Exactly what I was thinking... its almost like some people are delighted to see him make a mistake just so they can say "I told ya he was useless ages ago". He is improving all the time and some of his footwork the other night was brilliant to watch, for Jebus to say he cant dribble is comical.

[jebus]

have a look

fair enough it may be the daily mirror but it was on the radio earlier too. I guess Martin O'Neill must see something you don't. Then again, he's probably a joke too since he was involved with Celtic and the SPL

Martin O'neill is a quality manager and should never have been anywhere near the SPL to be fair, and he's entitled to think McGeady is worth €10m, in today's market that's not much for a supposedly excellent player but whatever. I've seen him 3 times live, and watched him on TV quite a bit and he's always failed to live up to expectations, especially live (for both Celtic and Ireland) where his movement in particular was nonsensical.

Maybe I'm being overly harsh on him because I feel some people overstate just how good he is, but I honestly think he's no better than a Darius Vassell or similar also rans and never will bes in the Premiership. If he proves me wrong I'll hold my hands up, but I doubt he will to be honest

[thepiedpiper]

Martin O'neill is a quality manager and should never have been anywhere near the SPL to be fair, and he's entitled to think McGeady is worth €10m, in today's market that's not much for a supposedly excellent player but whatever. I've seen him 3 times live, and watched him on TV quite a bit and he's always failed to live up to expectations, especially live (for both Celtic and Ireland) where his movement in particular was nonsensical.

Maybe I'm being overly harsh on him because I feel some people overstate just how good he is, but I honestly think he's no better than a Darius Vassell or similar also rans and never will bes in the Premiership. If he proves me wrong I'll hold my hands up, but I doubt he will to be honest

McGeady has won three or four man of the matches in his ten or so Champions League Games (Porto home and away, Milan away, Rosenborg home are ones I can remember) so he hardly needs to prove it in the Premiership. As for Wednesday I thought he was excellent in the first half and was involved in the goal, threaded another one through to Duff for a shot, had a super turn and shot himself, went down the outside and whipped in the low cross that their lad nearly ballooned into his own goal himself and did one of his spins in the corner just for ****s and giggles. Basically, he was involved in everything good we did. That's end product - no matter what anyone says.

However, I do think he regressed in the second half. He was dispossessed trying to go by the full back on one occasion when he had no options in the box - fair enough. But there was another time when both strikers made runs and the ball needed to be whipped in and he took the man on and lost it. He still put loads of balls into the box though the quality varied. That said he came inside and fed a lovely ball through to Doyle for the chance where he rolled in across but Keane hadn't gambled on the ball. Aiden could have scored obviously too but it wasn't a gimme.

I reckon he needs to keep working on the timing and consistency of his delivery but that's not at all to say it's poor at the moment because he was involved in most of our good moments. However, he certainly has the tools to improve and I do think the 'no end product' comments are lazy clichés. He's also judged to a different standard than the rest of the players because he plays in Scotland and most of the media commentators and journalists have a big stiffy for all things English league.

[Torn-Ado]

McGeady has won three or four man of the matches in his ten or so Champions League Games (Porto home and away, Milan away, Rosenborg home are ones I can remember) so he hardly needs to prove it in the Premiership. As for Wednesday I thought he was excellent in the first half and was involved in the goal, threaded another one through to Duff for a shot, had a super turn and shot himself, went down the outside and whipped in the low cross that their lad nearly ballooned into his own goal himself and did one of his spins in the corner just for ****s and giggles. Basically, he was involved in everything good we did. That's end product - no matter what anyone says.

However, I do think he regressed in the second half. He was dispossessed trying to go by the full back on one occasion when he had no options in the box - fair enough. But there was another time when both strikers made runs and the ball needed to be whipped in and he took the man on and lost it. He still put loads of balls into the box though the quality varied. That said he came inside and fed a lovely ball through to Doyle for the chance where he rolled in across but Keane hadn't gambled on the ball. Aiden could have scored obviously too but it wasn't a gimme.

I reckon he needs to keep working on the timing and consistency of his delivery but that's not at all to say it's poor at the moment because he was involved in most of our good moments. However, he certainly has the tools to improve and I do think the 'no end product' comments are lazy clichés. He's also judged to a different standard than the rest of the players because he plays in Scotland and most of the media commentators and journalists have a big stiffy for all things English league.

Do you mean Benfica and Copenhagen by any chance?

[Torn-Ado]

I am not saying you dont have the right to criticise. Am saying he was better on wed than he has been in any previous games for us. He was constantly involved in the game and his workrate was brilliant. He made the most of the one difficult chance that fell his way. This team is all about players working hard to compensate for less than exceptional ability. You got to give the lad his due for his workrate and his willingness to show for the ball.

Well said. McGeady had a good game against Cyprus. Him and Duff look like our main creative outlest for this campaign. His end product seems to be the cause of all the frustration.

[eirebhoy]

Shay Given quotes from Scotland’s Evening Times:

"Aiden was fantastic against Cyprus on Wednesday night.

He was a real threat to the Cypriots. He was running at them, putting crosses into the penalty area and playing some threatening passes in the final third.

However, not only was he good in the attacking sense, but I thought he was brilliant at tracking back as well. He was definitely one of our best players.

If McGeady plays as well against Manchester United as he did on Wednesday night for Ireland, he'll be a handful for them.

I've no doubts whatsoever Aiden could play in the Premiership. He would cause a lot of defences a lot of problems if he was playing down in England.

As a Celtic fan, I'm glad he is still playing there, but if he was to decide in the future he wanted to try another league then he would be more than good enough to play down south.

I'd imagine Aiden's confidence is pretty good most of the time, but if he needs confidence then I'm sure he'll be on cloud nine after they way he performed against Cyprus. So that is good news for Celtic with such a big game looming.

I think Aiden has grown into it a bit more now. He has had to get to know the other players, how things work at international level and basically just what it takes to play for Ireland.

He is finding his feet now and I think the people who were at Croke Park, and the supporters who watched the match on TV, will be delighted that he is playing for us and is a fantastic player.”

That’s a few players now who have praised McGeady after Wednesday’s performance. Trap would certainly have been very happy with him too. I believe if he played like that for Celtic in the Champions league the fans would be happy with him. A couple of Scottish papers said he played well and they can compare that with his performances for Celtic. Don’t get me wrong, he wasn’t at his absolute best but I thought he did play very well. His control was excellent. He created a few chances. His work rate was fantastic. OK the ball was taken off him 2 or 3 times (that’s an accurate figure I think) but considering how many times he dribbled with the ball in tough situations that’s a very low figure. Some people like to exaggerate that figure though.

One mistake from McGeady and it seems to wipe the good contributions from the memories of many Irish fans. I’ve seen McGeady have a few poor games for Ireland through a lack of confidence but now he’s playing with confidence. He’s now playing at or close to the levels he plays with for Celtic. He’s not a world class player but the Irish players and management seem to rate his performances a lot higher than many of the fans and media over here. You certainly won’t be finding a Celtic fan calling McGeady a liability after a performance like that on Wednesday and you’d be doing well to even find some that would describe his performance as frustrating.

I get the feeling that when McGeady does win over the vast majority of Ireland fans, they could watch a tape of the Cyprus game again and they’d be a lot more impressed with McGeady than they were watching it live on Wednesday. The mistakes wouldn’t be as exaggerated and they’d understand that he has a lot more game intelligence than he’s given credit for. Keane played at least 2 simple passes to nobody on Wednesday. If Keane was as troublesome for the Cyprus defence as McGeady was he could make 3 times as many silly mistakes and the Irish fans wouldn’t mention them. I really believe that.