John McGinn

[SaddVillan]

Matt Law in The Times

WHY 'SUPER JOHN MCGINN MADE ME EAT HUMBLE PIE.

Three years ago, I suggested how Villa could never achieve European qualification with the Scot as an important cog – how wrong I was

First, an admission. It is almost three years to the day that this reporter posted a message on social media claiming that Aston Villa may never reach their target of qualifying for Europe until John McGinn was the club’s “third or fourth best midfielder”.

Watching McGinn score his first-ever Champions League goal at Villa Park in a 2-0 win over Bologna over Tuesday night brought memories of that message flooding back.

It may not have been entirely wrong, given the prominence of midfielders such as Boubacar Kamara, Douglas Luiz (now of Juventus), Jacob Ramsey, Youri Tielemans and summer signing Amadou Onana during the Unai Emery era.

But McGinn has proved to be every bit as important as some of Villa’s flashier stars under Emery and it is time to publicly eat some humble pie over a message that serves as a personal reminder of just how quickly things can change in football.

Nobody better personifies Villa’s journey to the top of the Champions League table – however brief it may prove to be –than ‘Super John McGinn’, who may well go down as one of the club’s best-value signings after joining for just Ł2 million in the summer of 2018.

From flying cabbages in the Championship to topping the Champions League table, McGinn has seen the lot at Villa Park.

Steve Bruce rates the signing as his best recruitment call, but it was a couple of months after his move that McGinn was part of a Villa side that drew 3-3 with Preston North End, prompting a fan to throw a cabbage at the club’s former manager.

Villa were 12th in the Championship at the time, with one win in 10 games, and McGinn must have wondered what he had walked into. Only a couple of weeks earlier, the midfielder had netted his first-ever goal for the club – a volley he will probably never better – in a 2-1 home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday.

Surviving a flying cabbage proved to be Bruce’s last act as Villa manager, as he was replaced by Dean Smith and McGinn scored the club’s second goal in the Championship play-off final win over Derby County that secured an unlikely promotion to the Premier League at the end of his first season at the club.

McGinn netted Villa’s first goal back in the Premier League, in an opening-day defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in 2019, and played in the final-day draw at West Ham United that clinched survival.

The following season, the Scotland international was one of the goalscorers in the remarkable 7-2 thrashing of Liverpool. But Villa started the 2021/22 campaign badly and it was after a 4-1 home defeat to West Ham United on October 31, 2021, that this reporter lost faith and posted the aforementioned social media message.

Less than a month later, McGinn scored in Steven Gerrard’s second game in charge of Villa – a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace – but that proved to be as good as it got for him under the Liverpool legend, despite being made club captain.

When Gerrard was sacked, McGinn was dropped by caretaker manager Aaron Danks in October 2022 and did not start Emery’s first game in charge against Manchester United. By his own admission, the 30-year-old thought he was “done” at Villa.

Fast-forward two years, however, and McGinn’s renaissance has matched Villa’s. He was instrumental in the unlikely qualification for the Europa Conference League at the end of Emery’s first season in charge and last October McGinn scored his first-ever European goal by heading a late winner against Zrinjski Mostar.

That was enough to underline McGinn’s influence and yet, just over a year later, he has now gone one better by becoming a Champions League goalscorer for Villa. Is he the fourth, third, second or best midfielder at the club? Frankly, who cares. He is ‘Super John McGinn’ and that is all that really matters.

[Demitri_C]

Im abit concened how below par he has been in recent games. Think he needs ro play mcginn more central . He doesnt seem very good in this position unais adopted him today

[Beard82]

I didnt thnk he was bad - I think our inability to function as a midfield unit wasnt really his fault - we just couldnt play through there press.  My the nature of his game he plays too many hollywood balls - but to be fair we werent able to build attacks - the transition bit he does well we just couldnt build on it

[VillaTim]

would he be better sat deep like a quarter back ?

[Monty]

Nobody loves him more than me, but surely he's due a spell out of the team.

[BC Villain]

Not so sure I want to hear the club captain making public comments like this.  Smacks of a losers mentality. 

"We've got to keep our heads a wee bit in there and have some perspective. Many teams will come here and suffer that defeat. It got loud. Probably as loud as I've heard it as an away player."

[Demitri_C]

Not so sure I want to hear the club captain making public comments like this.  Smacks of a losers mentality. 

"We've got to keep our heads a wee bit in there and have some perspective. Many teams will come here and suffer that defeat. It got loud. Probably as loud as I've heard it as an away player."

Yeah come.on john you played at spurs for years now you know what its about.  We also played away at worse places last season like olympiakos. Losing 4-1 is not acceptable in any circumstances with this group of players at our disposal

Also sounds like he has accepted we are inferior to spurs. We are not if we start believing that we will finish below them.

[Monty]

Not so sure I want to hear the club captain making public comments like this.  Smacks of a losers mentality. 

"We've got to keep our heads a wee bit in there and have some perspective. Many teams will come here and suffer that defeat. It got loud. Probably as loud as I've heard it as an away player."

I appreciate that he's trying to look on the bright side, stay positive etc, but if that consists of 'well look, we're worse than them' then that's a pretty bleak bright side.

[PaulWinch again]

Yes it’s not a great statement, but he’s probably physically and emotionally drained after a pretty chastening day. So I wouldn’t read too much into it.

[VillaTim]

weird , emery was the same pre-game bigging them up .

[aj2k77]

It got loud? Fucking hell.

[Bent Neilsens Screamer]

I didn’t think he was as bad as many are making out, he offered great cover to Cash in the first half, Son never had a kick. For the first 20 minutes he was using his body (arse) well and was turning and carrying the ball. There were a few times and one in particular where the ref put the whistle to his mouth for a foul after he was tackled but let it go, after that he never got a decision. He played to offer that defensive stability against Son and Odogie who also bombs forward.

[AV82EC]

I didn’t think he was as bad as many are making out, he offered great cover to Cash in the first half, Son never had a kick. For the first 20 minutes he was using his body (arse) well and was turning and carrying the ball. There were a few times and one in particular where the ref put the whistle to his mouth for a foul after he was tackled but let it go, after that he never got a decision. He played to offer that defensive stability against Son and Odogie who also bombs forward.

The biggest change right from the start of the second half was Udogie playing much further forward and using his athleticism to stretch McGinn and get him running towards his own goal. It worked.

[Beard82]

I didn’t think he was as bad as many are making out, he offered great cover to Cash in the first half, Son never had a kick. For the first 20 minutes he was using his body (arse) well and was turning and carrying the ball. There were a few times and one in particular where the ref put the whistle to his mouth for a foul after he was tackled but let it go, after that he never got a decision. He played to offer that defensive stability against Son and Odogie who also bombs forward.

Id agree with this - he was a long way from being our biggest issues today.  First half - I thought he was good, very solid .  Second half nothing worked for anyone. 

[eamonn]

Did McGinn play in Greece? Spurs are a library compared to Olympiakos. C'mon John - between that and your arse-move not working today, you've had a mare, lad.