Naismith: McGeady can hurt Germans

Steven Naismith believes his Everton team-mate Aiden McGeady has the guile to ensure Ireland go one better than Scotland in next month’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Germany.

On Sunday night in Dortmund, Gordon Strachan’s Scots exposed some of the World champions’ defensive deficiencies despite losing 2-1.

Watford wide man Ikechi Anya, originally from the same Castlemilk suburb of Glasgow as McGeady, was allowed to bomb clear midway through the second half to equalise.

And Scotland striker Naismith knows that a talent like McGeady is capable of gorging on the space Germany afford their opposition down the flanks.

After their winning start in Georgia on Sunday, Ireland have minnows Gibraltar up next on October 11 before facing the Germans three days later in Gelsenkirchen.

McGeady, having grabbed both of Ireland’s goals in Tbilisi, is in the perfect form to trouble the World champions, according to Naismith.

“Every team, including Germany, has their weaknesses and our equaliser on Sunday summed that up,” explained the 27-year-old. “Germany’s defensive line plays so high, with the goalkeeper Manuel Neuer acting as their sweeper, that pace on the wings can exploit them. Aiden is the perfect man to do that. I think he’s improved greatly in general over the past while.

“Unfortunately, he hadn’t played for a month when he joined us in January so wasn’t anywhere near being fully fit. But he’s shown over pre-season and since the campaign started how hard he’s worked to get himself into the best shape.

“He’s a real asset for Everton and obviously, as he showed in Georgia, he’s doing the business for Ireland too.”

Naismith is surrounded by Irishmen at Goodison Park, with Seamus Coleman and Darron Gibson accompanied by McGeady since the turn of the year, and the lone Scotsman is expecting the Group D rivalry to heat up now there’s just eight weeks remaining before the Celtic cousins clash at Parkhead.

He said: “There’s only been a slight bit of banter between us so far but I’m sure it will crank up now that the first games are over and we’re moving closer to playing Ireland in November. That will be an interesting game.”

Much interest in that fixture centres on the hostile reception Scottish fans are likely to reserve for James McCarthy and McGeady.

Both Glaswegians chose Ireland over their homeland during their teens and, while Naismith wishes they were international team-mates of his, he doesn’t envisage the atmosphere at the home of Celtic affecting McGeady.

“Aiden’s a quality player that would have been welcomed into this group but he made his decision a long time ago and I know he’s happy with it,” admitted the 30-times capped Scot.

“Although Celtic is where Aiden came through the ranks and played his football at the start of his career, the fans probably won’t be as cheery to him as they were during his career there. However, he’ll be well able to cope with any stick because he’s much more experienced now.”

As for the Scots, their next fixture against Georgia is now a must-win.

“We showed against Germany that we can compete against the best,” asserted Naismith. “Now we’ve to take those positives into our next games against Georgia and Poland before we host Ireland.”