McGeady: Hoops flair men can play together

Aiden McGeady believes he can play in the same Celtic side as Shaun Maloney and Shunsuke Nakamura – and insists manager Gordon Strachan thinks so too.

The trio have been vying for two places in the Hoops midfield for most of the season, with Strachan electing to field all three only on rare occasions.

That has meant spells on the bench for 22-year-old McGeady, last term’s SPFA Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year.

His reduced involvement led to rumours last month that a rift had developed between McGeady and his manager, something denied by both parties.

In fact, McGeady claims he and Strachan are of the same mind when it comes to the manager’s rotation policy.

“At the moment, myself, Shaun and Naka seem to be competing for a couple of places in the side and we’ve all had to sit our certain games over the last few months,” McGeady said in Celtic View.

“To be honest though, I don’t think there’s any reason why we can’t all play in the same side and I think the manager feels the same way. Against Villarreal (on September 30), we all played in a trio behind the striker and I felt it worked well, as did the gaffer.

“It just depends on what his thoughts are and what kind of team we are up against. I started the season on the left, but I’ve played more on the right wing recently.

“I’ve said in the past I wouldn’t mind playing through the middle when I get older as well. It’s the same with Shaun and Naka.

“They can both comfortably play on either wing or through the middle, so the gaffer certainly has options, including playing all three of us. That will be useful with all the games coming up.”

Celtic face a hectic month, with tonight’s Co-operative Insurance Cup quarter-final at Kilmarnock the first of eight games before the end of November.

With targetmen Georgios Samaras and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink expected to miss most of those matches through injury, McGeady has expressed his willingness to fill the void.

He said: “The manager still has a few options for the striking roles and I would be happy to help out if he asked me to. I’ve played there a few times under the manager and I quite enjoy it.”

Arguably the biggest game on the horizon for Celtic is next Wednesday’s Champions League visit of Manchester United.

A failure to register their first Group E win of the campaign could spell the end of the Hoops’ dreams of qualifying for the knockout phase for a third straight season.

McGeady has not given up hope of snatching second place but concedes Celtic face an uphill battle.

He said: “It’s not going to be easy for us to qualify for the last 16.

“But we still have two home games and, with our record at Celtic Park over the past few years, you’d like to think we’d take something from at least one of those games.

“At the moment, second place isn’t out of reach for us but, given our current position, third place and a sport in the UEFA Cup would be good for us. It’s looking that way at the moment.”