Reading John Hartson’s thoughts on Aiden McGeady there was one phrase that stood out for me.
Hartson said: “Teams have learned to play against him, they’ve doubled up on him.
“The opposition’s right-sided midfielder will come across to help their right-back and Aiden will try to take them both on, whereas if he got his head up he could pop it off and take two players out of the game.”
But who can Aiden pop it off to in the current Celtic team?
With McGeady there is no middle ground amongst the Celtic support.
The majority of supporters see him as a genuine talent, someone worth watching and capable of doing something special and memorable.
Against that there are a number of frustrated fans who see little in the way of end product either in terms of goals scored or assists.
McGeady would be amongst the first to admit that his scoring record is sub-standard.
His SPL record of almost one goal in every five games isn’t that bad but considering the chances and opportunities that he gets he should be looking to hit double figures every season.
Looking through his midfield team-mates however reveals a depressing trend with Scott Brown and Landry N’Guemo managing just one goal between themselves all season.
As McGeady gets the ball and heads for goal what options does he have?
Behind him the left-back position is generally recognised as a nightmare position giving McGeady little alternative a but to push forward.
Across the midfield, specifically centre midfield there aren’t many options with no-one since Stan Petrov justifying the title of attacking midfielder.
Does McGeady have any alternative other than to try and do it himself by shooting for goal or delivering a telling cross to the strikers.
Last season there was a small purple patch at the end of November and beginning of December when almost everything went McGeady’s way with Georgios Samaras in particular benefiting with three goals in consecutive games coming from his assists.
It almost becomes a chicken and egg situation as far as McGeady is concerned.
As the team has deteriorated over the last two seasons he has been expected to deliver more and more.
Without the quality of team-mate that he once enjoyed how can he expect to deliver for the team and also develop his own game?
Neil Lennon faces a major task in resolving the McGeady dilemma.
Does he attempt to build a team around the 24-year-old or cash in and build a team with the proceeds of his transfer fee?
Hartson spoke honestly and sincerely about his former team-mate. He’d love to see McGeady realise his potential but wonders how long you can wait for a 24-year-old to develop.
He didn’t specifically say that he should leave Celtic, perhaps playing at another club an edge would be lost from McGeady’s game.
Without beginning to compare the two players Ki Sung Yueng is two years younger than McGeady but will start next season with the benefit of having played in the World Cup and Olympic Games.
At 24 McGeady is no longer an emerging talent, he has more experience of playing for Celtic than anyone else at the club.
A big decision, one way or the other, will be made before the end of the current transfer window with Celtic and McGeady both having to decide what is in their own best interests.
Looking back six years Hartson said: “When he came into the Celtic side Aiden was as good as any kid I’d seen. He reminded me of when I was at West Ham and Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand and Joe Cole used to come over from the youth team whenever we were short of numbers on a Friday.
“They were as good as any of the first team at 17, 18. Aiden was the same. He was tremendous. There was nothing he couldn’t do.
“But I just don’t think Aiden gone on to the next level yet. I still think he does things on a football pitch where you think ‘in the last three or four years, Aiden, you should have learned’.
“He needs to get back to playing regularly, playing well, making the right decisions, putting bums on seats, getting bums off seats with an exciting bit of play.
“Last season he was outstanding in his first game under Tony Mowbray but he just went backwards and backwards through the season.”
McGeady debut v Hearts 25/4/04: David Marsahall; Johan Mjallby, Bobo Balde, Stan Varga; Didier Agathe, Stan Petrov, Liam Miller, Neil Lennon, Aiden McGeady; Jamie Smith, Henrik Larsson
Final game of last season v Hearts 9/5/10: Lucasz Zaluska: Andreas Hinkel, Josh Thompson, Darren O’Dea, Edson Braffheid; Zheng Zhi, Scott Brown, Mark Wilson Aiden McGeady; Robbie Keane, Marco Fortune
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trouble is the way we play with mcgeady in the team is to give him the ball and expect him to set up and make goals and the fact his end product is poor more often than not. this means the shape of our team is unbalanced and also why our cental midfielders dont score goals and also why our forwards dont score either. the solution is to correct the shape of our attacking system and attack more through the middle.
As for the question of mcgeady i think he has great skill and can skip round players but and a big but is going back to the fact the end product is not there and how he constantly plays the wrong ball or hits a bad cross or just gets beaten on the ball so if a club is willling to pay £10 million for him we must sell him. i think our midfield would look more balanced and work better as a unit so i for one am hoping he goes.
hail hail.
First of all Joe, I disagree that the majority of Celtic fans ” rate ” McGeady….the ones I know, myself included, certainly don’t.
I first saw him as a 14 year old …and the team he was with had one instruction …”give the ball to Aiden every time “……now don’t get me wrong …his talent was there for all to see…but he was not , remotely, a team player….and has carried this with him to the present day as far as I’m concerned.
For his own sake , apart from anything else, he’s better away from Scotland …for a variety of reasons ….and if we get offered upwards of £8 million for him…bite their hand off…
Well over rated. He rarely troubles the likes of Kirk Broadfoot when he plays Rangers and that says it all. £8 million? He’s barely worth half of that. He’s no better than your Andrew Drivers of this world.
Big Klunk Broadfoot is still suffering dizzyness from trying to chase Aiden at the 2009 Co-op Cup Final. Aiden was rarely trusted by Gordon Strachan against Rangers but has shown in Europe that he’s way above the level of SPL journeymen.
He is a legend in his own lunchtime but he is also the green chip player we have always threatened to produce through the ranks.
Amicable divorce for me.