‘I haven’t hit my best form for Ireland’

On the brink of what will be his 60th cap for his country, you’d understand if Aiden McGeady would only want to accentuate the positive.

But, credit to the Spartak Moscow man for telling it like it is, he could hardly be more candid when asked if he thinks Irish supporters have seen the best the fleet-footed, tricky winger has to offer.

“No, I don’t think so,” comes the thoughtful reply. “You know, for just some reason or another I probably haven’t hit my best form for a continued period of time for Ireland. I don’t know why, but I just don’t think it reflects the way I play at club level. Obviously I’ve had some good games, but not consistent over time. I mean, the Euros was a good campaign for me, over the 10 to 12 games of the qualifying campaign. But it still probably wasn’t the way I feel I can play. I just don’t know how long we’re going to wait until it happens.”

Under Giovanni Trapattoni, of course, it’s not like McGeady is ever going to be given the licence for all-out attack, the defensive requirements of the Irish job perhaps making it harder for him to have a more headline-grabbing impact.

“Yeah, it can be tough,” he reflects. “Obviously the way we play with Ireland is totally different to the way we play at Spartak. You’re always going to expect that but it’s just different, and it can be difficult for a wide player to try and influence the game. I still obviously enjoy playing for Ireland — but I want to do the best I can for the team as well. So with Ireland I probably want to try to be more consistent instead of having a good game and then the next game being okay or average or poor. Just continue to be good.”

And with just two goals to his name in the green shirt, he needs no telling those stats could do with a boost too.

“I’d say my shooting and scoring needs to improve. At club level I’m okay but for Ireland I just seem to have a mental block or something, anytime I bloody get near the goal. Crossing and stuff is okay. People probably talk about (a lack of) end product at times but I know myself more than anyone I’ve got to create more chances. If I hit one over the bar or behind the goals it’s end product that gets mentioned, instead of what I have done well.”

At club level, after three years in one of Irish football’s more exotic postings, it sounds like our man in Moscow has itchy feet. On transfer deadline day in back January, a move to Wigan fell through as McGeady struggled to overcome injury but, with one year left on his contract at Spartak, another chance to go appears imminent. Of course, on the record, he’s as diplomatic as his professional obligations demand.

“Whenever I get asked, I just say that things are going well, I’m happy there,” he says. “It’s up to them if they get an offer, whether they accept it. It’ll be up to them in the end, not to me. I don’t want to say that I don’t want to extend (my contract) but three years is a long time, and four years is a long time. I don’t want to spend another four or five years there. I’d like to try somewhere else. Maybe England. Moscow is not the easiest place to live. It’s OK for me. I find it OK but, with your family and stuff, it can be difficult for them. That’s a big factor as well.”

If he does move, McGeady insists, it definitely won’t be to another Russian club: “No, no, it would only be Spartak.”

But when the moment does come to depart, he stresses, it will not be without gratitude. “It’s been an eye-opening experience. It’s been enjoyable, and it’s been good for me. I can’t say I have any regrets about it. I can’t say anything bad about the Russian league, the team or the way I’ve been treated. It’s been great. I would also say it has improved me as a player, but whether everyone agrees with that, that’s up to them. Before I went there I wasn’t really a regular in the Ireland team. Being over there, playing a different kind of football, I think it’s improved me.

“But I still think there’s obviously things in my game I want to improve, definitely.

Which brings us back to where we came in. And Friday against the Faroe Islands, on the occasion of his 60th cap, would surely be the ideal time for the 27 year old to set about righting his meagre goal record.

“If a shot goes in, it goes in,” he says. “Yeah it would be nice, but first of all it would be nice if we win. I don’t think there’s any reason why we can’t still qualify for the World Cup. A lot of people probably wrote us off after the Germany game and the Faroes game, but we did okay in the Sweden game and we should have won against Austria. It’s stood us in good stead, I think, in the group. We almost qualified in 2010, and then we qualified for the Euros. Obviously Germany are going to qualify this time and, then it’s between ourselves, Sweden and Austria. And I don’t see Sweden or Austria being far better than us.”