John McGinn

[dave.woodhall]

No Heaton or Moraes as we withdrew them from our named 25 man squad.

Which is another reason to be pissed off. The rules can be changed regarding the end of the season and player contracts, but not squad names.

[LeeB]

No Heaton or Moraes as we withdrew them from our named 25 man squad.

Which is another reason to be pissed off. The rules can be changed regarding the end of the season and player contracts, but not squad names.

Come on Dave, we must protect the integrity of the league as long as it doesn't get in the way of making money.

[PaulWinch again]

No Heaton or Moraes as we withdrew them from our named 25 man squad.

Which is another reason to be pissed off. The rules can be changed regarding the end of the season and player contracts, but not squad names.

Yep it’s just stupid.

[cdbearsfan]

What absolute nonsense. Was punish players who were unlucky enough to get injured twice?

[kippaxvilla2]

I thought I read somewhere that they had relaxed that rule now?

[kieron]

Yes I'd heard that too. I think they'll be allowed to be made available.

[aldridgeboy]

Finally some football news that’s brought a smile. From the Villa Official Twitter

[cdbearsfan]

Good, can put those conspiracy theories to bed.

[ASHTONVILLA]

Great news. We are a much stronger team with McGinn in midfield both in defence and attack. Pity Heaton isn't going to be fit but hopefully Smith will see sense and pick Nyland ahead of Reina when we restart.

[aldridgeboy]

I think I’ve read Somewhere that even if Heaton was fit, he wouldn’t be allowed to play now, as we took him out of the 25.

[Risso]

I think I’ve read Somewhere that even if Heaton was fit, he wouldn’t be allowed to play now, as we took him out of the 25.

Yep, same with Wesley.  However, whether the Premier League can insist on squad lists being adhered to given that the season as a whole should be finished now is another thing.  Another thing they'll get wrong I expect.

[kippaxvilla2]

This is the last I saw Of this.

Premier League set to relax rules as it aims for resumption in June
Lifting squad-size edict and 29-game completed season among options
Clubs would have six weeks to complete their remaining nine or ten fixtures under a June start
Clubs would have six weeks to complete their remaining nine or ten fixtures under a June start
STEPHEN POND/GETTY IMAGES
Jonathan Northcroft, Football correspondent
Sunday March 29 2020, 2.01am, The Sunday Times
Restrictions on Premier League squads could be lifted as part of emergency measures to help clubs finish the season.

The proposal is one of several likely to be discussed at the Premier League’s next meeting, which will be held via conference call on Friday, as owners consider ways to conclude the 2019-20 campaign.

There is acceptance that the present plan to resume after April 30 will be impossible to implement because of the pandemic and that the “best-case scenario” — in the words of one chairman — is a resumption at the start of June, leaving teams six weeks to complete their remaining nine or ten fixtures by July 16. This is regarded as a significant deadline because it is when the present season’s broadcast

[PaulWinch again]

I think I’ve read Somewhere that even if Heaton was fit, he wouldn’t be allowed to play now, as we took him out of the 25.

Yep, same with Wesley.  However, whether the Premier League can insist on squad lists being adhered to given that the season as a whole should be finished now is another thing.  Another thing they'll get wrong I expect.

It’s daft isn’t it. You can’t hold clubs to a squad decision made in January, with a view to a season finishing in May, and at the same time be allowing contracts to be extended beyond their original expiry date.

[Mister E]

Great article here - https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/may/28/john-mcginn-we-need-to-keep-aston-villa-premier-league

[Mister E]

John McGinn scored the goal that secured Aston Villa’s promotion last season, then he opened their account in the Premier League and now, after recovering from a broken ankle, he says he is raring to save Villa from relegation when the season restarts.

He was due to return to action against Chelsea in March but that match was postponed when the league was paused. Since then McGinn, like everyone else, has been playing a waiting game.

“It’s coming up to six months since my last game so I’m choking to get out there,” says the Scot, whose enterprise from midfield was sorely missed by Villa after his injury against Southampton in December. The club’s problems deepened 10 days later when they lost another two influential players, Tom Heaton and Wesley, to damaged cruciate ligaments.

Although deeply frustrated at being forced to watch from the sidelines as his team slipped into the relegation zone, McGinn says his sympathy for the misfortunes of others made sure he never felt too sorry for himself even before the pain inflicted on so many by Covid-19.

“I got injured two days after the team Christmas visits to the Acorns Hospice and the Children’s Hospital,” he says. “It is something I won’t forget. It is something which brings you right back down to earth and you realise the things these families are going through. How tough it is for them. ”

Now that Premier League clubs have been given the go-ahead to resume contact training, McGinn detects “light at the end of the tunnel” and says he is looking forward to playing “as soon as it is safe to do so”. Villa sit 19th in the table but have a game in hand on everyone else in the bottom half. They face a particularly tough schedule, with most of their remaining 10 matches against the top teams.

Villa’s survival could depend on their ability to make the best of the league’s disruption, using the hiatus to do work that would not have been possible in a normal season. The task of staying up has been complicated by having to mould a team rapidly after signing more than a dozen players following promotion to the top flight.

“I thought that before the lockdown we were showing small signs of progression,” says McGinn. “It’s not easy when you sign a lot of new players. They have to adapt to the country and the lifestyle first and foremost and then try to gel as a team.”

During the lockdown Dean Smith staged regular analysis sessions with the squad over Zoom, and for the last fortnight the players have enjoyed solo attention at the training ground.

“We’ve been working on weaknesses individually that you don’t always get the chance to do,” says McGinn. “In football the pressure is obviously on results and when games are coming thick and fast you focus on the team. But during this period we’ve had to do individual work. So that’s a positive in a way but we’ve got to implement it now.

“We all know we’ve not had a great season really in the league but we still have the opportunity to finish strongly and make sure that no matter what, we keep Villa in the league.”

He knows Villa will have to get accustomed quickly to playing in eerie surrounds. “It’s going to be odd,” he says. “A lot of the lads are used to playing at a full Villa Park and other packed stadiums and thriving off the atmosphere and using that adrenaline you get as a football player.

“But nothing is going to be straightforward now, whether that’s in football or even just going to the shops. You have to queue up to get into supermarkets. None of it is ideal but we all just have to try and adapt as best as we can. We’re no different. In an ideal world we would love to have the support of our fans and the supporters would all love to be there but it’s not ideal at the minute and the powers that be will decide when it’s safe to do so. When that moment comes it will be even more special than before.”

He has been encouraged by the way the Bundesliga has returned. “I’ve been watching most of it,” he says. “It’s been good and quite refreshing to see. I think they have adapted to it quite well. It’s very odd hearing the echo, especially in the bigger stadiums, but they have dealt with it quite well.
Aston Villa’s John McGinn scores the winner against Derby last May

“Even watching Dortmund v Bayern Munich [on Tuesday], the standard is still so good. I’m sure if we can adapt to it as quickly and as easily as possible we can keep the same standard as when the fans were in.”

Villa can also take heart from the example of their own form last season, when they went on a 10-match winning streak to make a late surge into the play-offs, a run that set the stage for McGinn’s winning goal against Derby County in the play-off final. “We’ve got to use that experience,” he says. “We’re not naive enough to think we can go and win 10 in a row in the Premier League but if we can get that sort of confidence and belief we can get Villa out of this situation we’re in. We’re just inside the relegation zone at the minute but we’re more than capable of getting out of it and it’s in our own hands.”