Aston Villa: ‘Brilliant’ captain John McGinn wows TNT pundit vs Ajax in ‘his last game for a while’
John McGinn proved why Unai Emery is going to miss him for Aston Villa with his performance in the 4-0 win over Ajax in the Europa Conference League.
After a goalless draw in Amsterdam it could have been an edgy night at Villa Park in the return leg (14 March) but the home side overwhelmed the struggling Dutch giants and went through with relative ease once Ollie Watkins opened the scoring.
An injury which forced the striker off after his goal will be of concern to the manager, but the fact that the captain is set to miss Premier League games with West Ham, Wolves and Manchester City will be as well.
The Scotland international was shown a straight red card for kicking Destiny Udogie in frustration during the damaging 4-0 defeat by Tottenham at the weekend, but was back to his crucial self in Europe.
Aston Villa captain bounces back from red card in Tottenham defeat
According to stats from SofaScore he made the same amount of tackles as against Spurs (two) but, crucially in light of that game, committed no fouls.
While he lost possession 12 times he won more than half of his nine ground duels (56%) and was efficient on the ball with his 51 touches.
McGinn completed 28 of his 32 passes (88%) and all three of his long balls (100%), but playing in a deeper role arguably his most illustrative intervention, which demonstrated the commitment to the Aston Villa cause that was lost with his composure against Spurs, came with one of the three times he was fouled.
The captain sprinted back deep into his own half in the 71st minute to halt an Ajax attack down the right, stealing in to take the ball ahead of the Aton Gaaei before winning a free kick to relieve the pressure.
Reacting live on TNT Sports commentator Ian Darke said (9.33pm): “McGinn working very, very hard in what he knows is his last game for a while.”
Lucy Ward replied: “Yeah brilliant, McGinn. It’s probably not his favoured position, on the cover for [Boubacar] Kamara in central midfield, but he makes sure that he gets there and sweeps things up.”
With the Frenchman out long term it is all the more of a blow to Emery to be without McGinn until April, which the Spaniard will have surely felt watching his captain in the Conference League, and not for the first time.
In other Aston Villa news, Roy Keane has talked up a big-money move to Manchester United for one vital Villa man.
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