Aston Villa: John McGinn’s friend shares what people keep asking him after incident v Tottenham
Aston Villa midfielder John McGinn’s former teammate and friend Alan Hutton has admitted that people keep asking if he’s seen the 29-year-old’s tackle on Destiny Udogie against Tottenham.
The Scottish midfielder was shown the first red card of his Villa career as Unai Emery’s side were thrashed 4-0 by Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs at Villa Park on Sunday (10 March) for a heavy second-half challenge.
Some pundits have suggested that the 29-year-old was unfortunate to be shown a straight red card, but McGinn will now miss Villa’s next three Premier League matches against West Ham United, Wolves and Manchester City.
While Hutton admits that McGinn’s absence will be a huge blow to Villa’s hopes of finishing in the top four, he has insisted that the Scotsman won’t have ever intended to harm Udogie despite his “dangerous” challenge.
“I’ve not spoken to him yet but sometimes you can see with John, he’s very aggressive,” Hutton told Villa News.
“That’s just the style of player he is and that will never leave him. They were 2-0 down at the time and you can see just before that he was running about and you can see how he goes, head down, sprinting at people.
“It was just for that split second, he obviously felt he could get the ball but Udogie is really quick, he got away from him and he just absolutely leathered him. Everybody was asking me, ‘Have you seen the tackle yet?’
“Look, it’s not great, but he’s not that type of guy. He’s not going to hurt anybody, he’s tried to be aggressive and win the ball and just clear him out at the same time and he’s just been a little bit off it.
“It’s a red card, I’m sure he’d tell you that himself because it did end up dangerous with just the force that was in it. The biggest thing is, that they now lose him for three games.
“That’s the captain of the club and what he gives you is unreal for the team. He’ll know that he’s made a mistake, but he just has to get on with it.”
How long will John McGinn be suspended for Aston Villa?
As Hutton suggested, McGinn is a player who always plays on the edge and that’s what makes him so important to Emery and his system at Villa Park. Without the Scotsman, the Villans wouldn’t have been in the race for the Champions League.
Emery does now have a bit of a selection headache for the coming weeks, especially with Boubacar Kamara stuck on the treatment table, but it would be naive to blame McGinn for his rush of blood on Sunday.
Hopefully, the Scotsman will return full of energy and fighting fit following his suspension to help Villa secure their place in the top four before the end of the season.
In other Aston Villa news, Matty Cash faces a “sink or swim” summer at Villa Park amid a new transfer update around Emery’s side
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