Aiden McGeady

Absolutely, and some of his contributions were invaluable in key games in Korea and Japan, Cyprus 09', Paris to name a few. In contrast, I couldn't recall a vital assist McGeady had off the top of my head and O Shea's list explains why. Barring Armenia, there was no match he got an assist that actually earned us points.

Certainly an interesting interpretation there. My argument, and I've been consistent in this, is that McGeady has done fcuk all for us since scoring the 2 goals V Georgia 4 years ago. he has obtained 29 of his 92 caps since then, and I think that 29 games in 4 years, whether a sub or not, is a decent level of time & games to determine whether any player has been effective for us or not, as I said in reply to RB, I doubt O'Dowda will get anywhere near 29 appearances in 4 years producing similar performances & stats. 

McGeady's fans cling to this 'assists' thing like drowning men to a lifebuoy, and there was certainly some merit in that argument up to 2013/2014 (his Ireland performances started dipping in 2012 in truth, bar scoring V Latvia & Georgia since then)- I don't think this is particularly relevant here in 2018 when those same lads are still insisting he has something to offer us. 

Look at the stats again from 2013 onwards since McGeady got his last assist in 2013;

McGeady- 1 assist

Wes (retired) 6 assists (also 3 goals)

Coleman 5 assists (a fullback, doesn't take set pieces nor allowed cross the HW line under Trap)

Robbie Brady- 4 assists

James McClean  2 assists (but also 10 goals)

Stephen Ward- 2 assists (another fullback not renowned for attacking play)

Jon Walters - 2 assists

Shane Long - 2 assists

So basically McGeady has been outshone in an attacking sense, in that defined period of time, by the other 2 main wingers playing at the time, McClean and Brady, while also being less effective than Coleman (no disgrace there to be fair, he's our best player) and a limited lad like Wardy, who are defenders. 

It's a lesser version of the Robbie Keane argument when he was coming to the end of his career, after he scored V the Kazachs in a qualifier in Oct 2013, in the next 3 years, he was mainly ineffective, and only managed to score V Latvia, Gibraltar & Oman after that. Lads had the same argument then, he had scored 60 goals for us in the past, he should be playing/still has something to offer, but it really wasn't the case, the only things that kept Robbie there as long were his own determination and the fact we hadn't, and still don't have, anyone remotely like him or able to do what he was capable of. 

That isn't the case with McGeady whatsoever, we have McClean, Brady, O'Dowda (I'll leave Hayes out, with due respect to Hayes, Aiden isn't that bad) and if MON had any brains at all, he would be trying Doherty on the right wing as well, seeing as he is so effective as a wing back for Wolves, or even Christie, who is probably a better attacker than defender in any case. 

I dunno has this argument got confused somewhat, I'm not arguing whatsoever with McGeady's overall contribution to Ireland, which is reasonably decent overall, but 12 assists over that amount of caps isn't really all that spectacular, and could easily be surpassed by the likes of Brady by the time he finishes up. I'd doubt whether 12 is the most assists any Irish player ever got either, I'd have thought Harte might have something similar, and Stan almost certainly. Nobody is saying those 2 lads should still be playing for us though. 

I don't think there's any real comparison to be made between Duff and McGeady's Ireland careers.

While Duff's scoring / assisting record wasn't great, he offered so much more in possession and regularly won clever free kicks in dangerous positions. 

 

In his height, Duff was a world-class player, and while his peak didn't last as long as we'd of liked, he was a far more influential player for us than McGeady ever was. 

McGeady had incredible potential in his early Celtic / Spartak days, but he was so frustrating to watch as we all knew how skilful he was, but his decision making let him down so often.

Robbie Brady is probably a better example of a player who we could compare with McGeady. Similarly, Robbie had a lot of potential as a youngster, and while he hasn't quite lived up to his promise, he's generally been a solid performer for us, while still taking a fair bit of stick in recent times. 

Brady, who is only 26, has already scored seven goals (two more than McGeady), in less than half the amount of appearances. 

I'm not too sure how many assists Robbie has, but I'd be willing to bet that by the time he retires for Ireland (Which could potentially be in 9-10 years), he'll have far more goals / assists than both McGeady and Duff. 

When you factor in that Brady has played at left-back in half of his Irish appearances, and has already scored in a Euro-play offs, and scored against both Italy and France, it's probably fair enough to say that he has already surpassed Aiden McGeady in terms of his Ireland career.  

There's also a point to be made that McGeady and Duff both played in stronger Ireland teams than Brady, and it was therefore easier for them to impress. 

Named in the PFA team of the year in 2000-01, and the UEFA team of the year for 2002, alongside ten other world class players.

Duff was for at least 2-3 years of his career, a world class player. 

Unfortunately he peaked very early.