John McGinn could face ruthless Unai Emery axe at Chelsea after torrid performance in Aston Villa 3-2 loss v Legia Warsaw
Aston Villa made a poor start to a first European campaign in 13 years after their disappointing defeat to Legia Warsaw and Unai Emery may be forced to make some ruthless decisions ahead of Chelsea.
The Villans were guilty of some poor and abject defending in their 3-2 defeat on Thursday (21 September) with all three of Legia’s goals were unavoidable had Emery’s men been switched on.
The Spaniard will be mightily concerned at just how shaky Villa looked at the back in this tie – something that has already cost them some heavy defeats in away games so far in the Premier League this season, at Newcastle and Liverpool.
Five changes were made to the side that beat Crystal Palace at the weekend and as the Villans gear up to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, Emery may be forced into several more changes.
And one man who may be on the end of a surprise axe against the Blues on Sunday (24 September) could be Scottish international and fan favourite John McGinn who has endured two disappointing performances since his return from international duty.
Against Crystal Palace in Villa’s 3-1 triumph, McGinn was nowhere to be seen all game before being hooked off after 71 minutes.
Credit where credit’s due, McGinn earned himself one key pass, while his 87% pass completion showed he was dependable at maintaining possession, but this is the extent of his positive contribution [SofaScore].
McGinn failed to have any shots in the game, had a 44% ground duel success rate, made just a single tackle and attempted just two dribbles – one of which was successful.
With just 0.06 xG, he was outclassed by his replacement Duran who scored a spectacular strike to justify Emery’s decision to bring him on for his tried and trusted midfield lieutenant.
McGinn is an excellent midfield general, arguably Aston Villa’s most important due to his tremendous tactical versatility, adaptability, ball security when pressed and his ability to drive Villa up the pitch to relieve pressure.
However, we haven’t seen any of that since the international break and the Scot again continued his worrying patch of form in Poland before he was correctly replaced by Moussa Diaby 15 minutes after half-time.
The former Hibernian midfielder just touched 20 times all game, recorded just the one key pass in his advanced midfield position, registered no shot at goal, completed just 40% of his total duels, recorded an expected goals total of 0.03 and didn’t contribute to any defensive work [SofaScore] as Aston Villa were easily swallowed up by Legia Warsaw all game.
Emery rarely benches McGinn who has always been a consistent and tireless performer for the Spaniard since his appointment in October.
However, for the first time since then, the 28-year-old is in danger of a ruthless axe from the Aston Villa starting eleven for Sunday’s crucial clash at Stamford Bridge.
With Jacob Ramsey back to full fitness, it may be time for Emery to make the hard choice and take McGinn out of the firing line for one game at least.
In other Aston Villa news, the Villans could call upon a 94th-percentile star to help fix their injury issues.