Garth Crooks blown away by Aston Villa ‘hero’ John McGinn v Arsenal
If you had told Aston Villa supporters before a ball was kicked this season that they would beat Manchester City and Arsenal to climb to third in the Premier League in December, they would have thought you were mad.
But against all the odds Unai Emery’s side has done exactly that, making Villa Park an absolute fortress this season and now people are tipping them for Champions League football next season as genuine title contenders this year.
A key part of this incredible recent run of form has been John McGinn, with the Scottish international thriving at the heart of Emery’s midfield and his goal against Mikel Arteta’s side earned him plenty of praise from Garth Crooks in particular.
Writing in his BBC Sport Team of the Week (10 December) he said: “Villa’s victory over the Gunners is a good indicator of how far they have come under Unai Emery. Remember this was a man who managed Arsenal not so long ago and was shown the door.
“The real hero of the side at the moment is their captain McGinn. The Scot is playing the football of his life and can slot into almost any role required of him.”
Crooks may be a divisive pundit, but he is correct to suggest that McGinn is capable of slotting into every role required of him at Villa Park and his performance against Arsenal last time out demonstrated that incredible versatility.
On top of his goal in the opening exchanges, the 29-year-old managed to carve out a single chance for his teammates with one of his six passes into the final third and even found a teammate with two of his three attempted long balls [Fotmob].
When in possession, McGinn thrived with the ball at his feet, completing more dribbles than any other player on either side with three as he attempted to drive Aston Villa up the playing field whenever he got on the ball.
It perhaps isn’t spoken about enough how good McGinn is when dribbling with the ball. He has had more successful take-ons per 90 minutes played than 93 per cent of midfielders in the Premier League this season, only being tackled in 26.8 per cent of his dribbles [Fbref].
But the Scottish international was just as impressive when out of possession, entering a remarkable 22 duels in the match as he constantly harried Arsenal’s midfield. He may have only won the ball in 10 of those battles but he didn’t give Declan Rice or Martin Odegaard a minute to breathe.
McGinn attempted five tackles in the clash, winning the ball in 80 per cent of those challenges and managed to win back possession twice via interceptions. Just to top off the workmanlike defensive display, the 29-year-old managed to make seven ball recoveries.
While the Scotsman hasn’t got through as much defensive work this season as he has done previously, he still makes more tackles in the middle third of the pitch than 76 per cent of midfielders and challenges more dribblers than 64 per cent of his positional peers.
Teams that qualify for the Champions League and win titles need versatile players in their ranks to cover multiple roles and Aston Villa have one of the most adaptive midfielders in the game in their ranks.
McGinn can thrive no matter what Emery asks him to do in the middle of the park and currently, he is Aston Villa’s “hero”. Supporters at Villa Park will be hoping the form of his life can continue for a while longer yet.
In other Aston Villa news, Leander Dendoncker’s performance left Jamie Carragher frustrated against Arsenal and must be sold in January