With so many stand-out performances across the pitch against Brighton, it’s difficult to pick out any particular Aston Villa starter for special praise.
Whether it was POTM and hat-trick hero Ollie Watkins, Matty Cash putting in a superb display at right-back, Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres impressing, Boubacar Kamara and Douglas Luiz controlling the midfield or Moussa Diaby being a live-wire as usual, we produced a brilliant collective performance.
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However, it’s been a while since I last took a closer look at captain John McGinn, and while he has had ups and downs so far this season, he was arguably at his best again this weekend.
The 28-year-old registered an assist in our 6-1 win, but added an 83 percent pass completion rate, three key passes, two successful dribbles in two attempts, he won eight of 15 duels, made five tackles and one interception.
There was a bit of everything from the Scottish international, and who better than Unai Emery to provide an assessment of his performance and influence, with the Villa boss hailing his captain for his impact on Saturday.
“Again, super John McGinn! John McGinn is very consistent,” he told the media, as per BirminghamLive. “Sometimes his performances is very high level, sometimes it’s medium level, but he’s always important. He’s always available and he is a very, very competitive man. He is always trying to help the team in the different positions we need to put him.”
Speaking prior to the game, McGinn reiterated that he’s happy to play anywhere for Emery, as we saw in midweek with his shift at left-back in our Carabao Cup defeat.
However, restored to a more favourable role on the right side of our midfield but with the responsibility to drift inside and into more advanced positions, we saw McGinn back to his influential best as those around him also put on a show.
His passing in our emphatic win on Saturday was superb, as seen with his ball to Cash in the lead up to the opener from Watkins, his breaking run from midfield and subsequent pass to Watkins for our fourth and the first-time sweeping ball into the Villa forward to split the Brighton defence before Douglas Luiz added a sixth, he was at the heart of so much of our positive attacking play.
While his versatility and tenacity are valuable attributes, as when he makes his presence felt in a game it tends to lead to a positive outcome for Villa, McGinn’s quality and ability in the final third to find pockets of space and play crucial passes to unlock defences is also a massive part of his game.
He noted in his pre-match interview that he does prefer to play on the right of midfield or further up in an attacking role, and he showed exactly why against Brighton, even though he did apologise for giving away part of Emery’s plan prior to kick-off.
With Nicolo Zaniolo and Jacob Ramsey now available to play off the left as we’ve got options despite the blow of losing Emiliano Buendia, and with the hope that Alex Moreno returns soon to compete with Lucas Digne at left-back, it’s hoped that McGinn can make that spot on the right his own.
He’s still effective in a more central role in the heart of the midfield battle and so we may see him deployed there at times to rest Douglas Luiz or Boubacar Kamara, but he’s shown an ability to make a decisive impact in that role he had this weekend, and hopefully he’ll be given the chance to settle and find consistency there again moving forward.
