Exclusive Interview with Aiden McGeady

Aiden McGeady: Manchester City will have enough to regain Premier League title

Former Premier League winger Aiden McGeady has told NewBettingSites.uk that he did not want Arsenal to win the league last season as he is not a fan of Mikel Arteta.

The ex-Everton wide man believes that Manchester City have hit their stride and hopes they will have enough to wrestle back the Premier League title from Arsenal.

Speaking to NewBettingSites.uk, McGeady said: “To be honest, I didn’t want Arsenal to win the Premier League last season. I was surprised they got over the line. I thought Manchester City would do what they always do and go on a run at the end of the season to win it.

“City lacked something compared to their title wins in previous seasons. They just didn’t have enough.

“This season feels different, especially with Arsenal losing 3-0 away to Brighton before the international break. Last season, you couldn’t imagine them conceding three goals in one game. It’s the first chink in the armour we’ve seen from them in a while.

“City weren’t blowing teams away at the start of the season and they were winning scrappy games, but they seem to be hitting their stride now. I think they’ll have enough to win the title back this year.

“I just don’t want it to be Arsenal; I can’t deal with them. Mikel Arteta is obviously a top manager but he does so many things that put you off him.”

The sky is the limit Brian Brobbey

McGeady described Sunderland’s Brian Brobbey, who scored a hat-trick against Manchester City, as ‘invaluable’ to Sunderland.

“Strikers like Brian Brobbey are absolutely invaluable,” he said. “He obviously got a hat-trick against Manchester City, but his all-round game was brilliant outside of the three goals.

“For a team like Sunderland who don’t always try to pass through the lines, it’s great having someone like him up top who deals with long balls so well. He’s an absolute unit and he throws defenders about for fun.

“He has been at a couple of big clubs already and after disappointing spells at Ajax and RB Leipzig, he had to come to Sunderland to sort of kickstart his career again.

“I thought he had a good season last year, even if he probably wasn’t as prolific as he could have been. Then he went off to the European Championships and did well with the Netherlands and has come back to Sunderland in good form. If he can score 15 or 20 goals in the Premier League this season, that would be huge for Sunderland.

“In terms of his potential, the sky is the limit. He has so many good attributes. The only thing I would pick out is that his technical ability can still look a bit raw at times. That said, his physical attributes make up for that.

“Overall, I have been really impressed with him and he has been a good signing so far. A few eyebrows were raised because he was well-known and it was a decent fee, but he looks to have been a shrewd signing.”

Quality of Ireland squad has dropped in last 10 years

He said: “It may sound a bit blunt to say that I don’t think the quality in the Ireland squad is the same as it was when I was playing. There are exceptions such as Troy Parrott, Jake O’Brien, Caoimhín Kelleher and the other players in the squad in top European leagues, but the majority are playing in the Championship or lower.

“When I was in the team, we had players like Robbie Keane and Damien Duff, and pretty much the whole team was playing in the top league of whatever country they were playing in. It’s hard to say why that is.

“Football is cyclical and Ireland are going through a period of transition. Under Stephen Kenny, a lot of core players were coming towards the end of their careers. He started to blood in younger players, but the problem with that is you still have to try and qualify with a less experienced squad.

“The nation has felt the backlash of having too many young players in the squad for the past few years, but they’re starting to come out the other side of it. They came from nowhere towards the end of their World Cup qualifying campaign to reach the play-offs and the defeat to Czechia will have been a blow, but there were encouraging signs to take from that.”