Aston Villa secured a crucial 2-1 win over Tottenham on Saturday, with John McGinn playing a pivotal role in us sealing three important points.
Goals from Jacob Ramsey and Douglas Luiz led us to victory, and it was undoubtedly an impressive collective performance that saw us deservedly come out on top and keep our European hopes alive.
READ MORE: Five key talking points as Villa secure vital win over Tottenham
However, McGinn stood out with his display in the Villa midfield, as he dictated and dominated throughout with his work ethic, tenacity and quality in possession to lead us to an impressive win.
The 28-year-old ended the game with 58 touches, an 89% passing completion rate, three successful dribbles from four attempted, he won eight of his 15 duels while making three interceptions and one key tackle.
Combined with the distance he covered to influence the game in both phases as he successfully helped nullify Harry Kane’s threat when he dropped deeper and that of the Spurs midfield, he also got us moving up the pitch to create openings and ultimately show the quality needed to grab all three points.
When McGinn is in top form and at his most impactful, it has a significant knock-on effect for the rest of the team.
That tenacity and bullish style of play sets the tone and standard for others to match, it gives us a foothold in games and allows us to impose ourselves and start to dictate proceedings in midfield.
Further, he affords more freedom and confidence to the likes of Douglas Luiz and Jacob Ramsey to get into more advanced positions, knowing that he will cover behind and play a fundamental role in ensuring we maintain our balance.
While he has conceded himself at various times this season that he wants to register more goal contributions, he’s shown a team-first mentality and sacrifice when needed to shift into a different role, and he has been effective and influential whether it’s playing more centrally or on the right side of midfield.
“Yes, he had a massive game,” Emery said of McGinn in his post-match press conference, as per BirminghamLive. “He’s very good every day, his commitment, he’s smiling every day and works every day with a really good spirit. Then his qualities adding in different positions is always being good for the team. He’s very competitive in every position and now playing as a No.8, he’s playing very well. I changed his position and he did it.
When I analysed him before I came here I watched him, qualities, to add in my idea here with him. Progressively, the first match he started on the bench against Manchester United but he showed me his commitment, his capacity and he’s a very important player for us.”
Question marks were raised over his form at the start of the season as he admitted himself he was under-performing, but McGinn has looked a player reborn under Emery’s stewardship, much like many of his teammates, and he’s now performing at a high level again to lead our charge towards Europe.
Time will tell if we ultimately achieve what has become our main objective now, but the signs are certainly promising moving forward in the long-term picture. McGinn is very much part of that vision as we look to strengthen around a pillar of the side, and he’ll hope to play a leading role in our final two games of the campaign and hopefully take us back into Europe.
A masterclass in midfield. 👏
Super @JMcGinn7 is your #AVLTOT Man of the Match, presented by Castore. ⭐ pic.twitter.com/ZXLarw1HsH
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) May 14, 2023