McGeady eyes goal rush
Aiden McGeady has pledged to hit double figures for Celtic in the new season after admitting his goals record has not been good enough.
The Republic of Ireland winger has scored just 15 goals in 111 appearances at club level.
Despite being a regular, he netted only five times last season, and with team-mates Neil Lennon, Paul Hartley and Evander Sno rarely troubling opposition goalkeepers, the lack of goals from midfield was a small problem for Celtic.
Shunsuke Nakamura scored 11 times, and McGeady believes he is capable of a similar return in the approaching campaign.
“I want to score more goals and create more goals,” said McGeady.
“I think hitting double figures has to be the aim for me and I know I’m capable of it.
“It’s all about taking the chances you get. I had a lot of shots last season that maybe went over the bar, hit the woodwork or went just past the post.
“I think I should be looking to hit double figures as a midfielder, because when you look at guys like Alan Thompson and ’Stan’ Petrov, when they were in their prime at Celtic, they were doing that.
“If you’re doing that every season, it’s a big boost to the squad. If you looked at the goals the entire team scored last season, it was a lot less than the season before.
“That was to do with the midfielders and the strikers, and it’s something we can improve on as a team.”
McGeady also believes Celtic can provide greater entertainment in 2007-08, after their lack of style prompted criticism last season – despite doing the domestic league and cup double.
The 21-year-old added: “I think everyone accepts that towards the end of last season our football wasn’t great.
“But with the players we have brought in, I believe we can maybe change our style of football a wee bit, be more entertaining and play some free-flowing football for the fans again.
“I know the fans weren’t happy with the football which was played over the last six months of the season.
“When I went to watch Celtic not that long ago with Henrik Larsson in the team and Martin O’Neill was manager, they would beat teams by four or five goals every week.
“Teams like Kilmarnock, Dunfermline and Aberdeen would all get well beaten at Parkhead.
“And I would think to myself last season that we were struggling to beat teams like that.
“No disrespect to them, obviously, but we had the players who were good enough to get us back to the way Celtic used to play.”
