John McGinn

[Somniloquism]

Aston Villa Statto
@AVFCStatto
·
34m
John McGinn becomes the tied-second most capped international player while playing for Aston Villa

69 - Olof Mellberg 🇸🇪
64 - Steve Staunton 🇮🇪
64 - John McGinn 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🆕

[eamonn]

Meatball is really sucking diesel for Scotland.

[Exeter 77]

Just mentioned on the Other Games thread I think that puts him on 20 international goals which must make him close to our top international scorer if not the absolute top.

[Allan C]

Talksport were saying last night that SJM is now the fourth highest Scotland goalscorer ever passing Ally Mcoist last night. Amazing for a midfielder

[SaddVillan]

          ALL TIME TOP SCOTTISH GOALSCORERS                       

                                    Caps     Goals
Denis Law                   55        30
Kenny Daglish          102        30
Hughie Galllagher      20        23
Lawrie Reilly               38         22
Meatball                      73         20

Everybody above McGinn played as a striker.
Makes McGinn’s 20 from midfield positions all the more impressive.

   102

[Bent Neilsens Screamer]

          ALL TIME TOP SCOTTISH GOALSCORERS                       

                                    Caps     Goals
Denis Law                   55        30
Kenny Daglish          102        30
Hughie Galllagher      20        23
Lawrie Reilly               38         22
Meatball                      73         20

Everybody above McGinn played as a striker.
Makes McGinn’s 20 from midfield positions all the more impressive.

   102

I thought King Kenny was supposed to be good, his goals to game ratio is crap!!

[cdbearsfan]

Rachel Corsie's twenty Scotland goals from centre-half is pretty decent, too (though admittedly she has 153 caps).

[Hillbilly]

For most of Dalglish's Liverpool career he was a 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 goalscorer. I can't find stats for assists but I suspect they are relatively high given he played with out and out strikers in Rush and Aldridge. I'd guess it was similar for Scotland.

[OCD]

You would think he would score more goals for us then.

[Dave]

You would think he would score more goals for us then.

I reckon that if we played him behind the striker and gave him games against San Marino, Faroe Islands, Kazakhstan and Cyprus (ten of his goals in that little lot) then he probably would.

[Demitri_C]

I see Mcginns talking about Celtic adding "never say never"

I think he will end up at celtic in next couple seasons as thats only way they could afford him

[SaddVillan]

From The Athletic

UNAI EMERY RELIES ON 'SUPER' JOHN McGINN -   HE'S INTEGRAL TO EVERYTHING ASTON VILLA DO

Unai Emery finished his press conference with a flourish.

To round off proceedings, The Athletic asked how John McGinn could become, as he loves to call him, “Super John McGinn” again.

“Hopefully, we can watch Super John McGinn,” Emery said, flashing a smile. “Over the international break, he scored two goals for Scotland. Now we want his goals here. John is an amazing person, as a player and as a professional. But we are always speaking about how football is passing (by) so quickly and the level we want to get and keep is high. John is following our message but knows he started this season in less form than last year.

“He is a very important player for us. His versatility and characteristics are very important.”

McGinn is often the bellwether for Aston Villa. At his best, hunched over and chest to the floor, he drives and presses the team upfield, cajoling the crowd with him. When he’s struggling — namely with his precision on the ball — Villa do not seem to possess the same thrust.

Emery intrinsically knows this. Following Villa’s victory against Bournemouth in April — in hindsight, the key result that secured Champions League qualification — McGinn was stood outside the changing room, talking to journalists. Emery, on his way to his post-match press conference, walked behind McGinn and slapped his back.

“Super John McGinn!” said Emery. “He’s not always, but he was today!”

Villa’s manager and captain have developed a close but frank relationship. It is an alliance founded upon honesty, mutual respect and tough love. Before Emery had arrived, McGinn was among a considerable group of players toiling for form and appeared directionless. It reached a stage where the Scotland international was open to a transfer and West Ham were interested.

In their first meeting, Emery asked McGinn what his favourite position was. “Not on the bench,” he replied.

When McGinn was recovering from a hamstring injury in October, Emery called him into his office. The 30-year-old thought his manager was wishing to provide reassurance at first.

“You were very poor against Wolves (the previous game he played in),” said Emery. “You need to improve when you’re back, or you’ll be out”.

Emery always dangles a carrot in front of McGinn’s nose, unrelenting in driving standards. Even when journalists relayed McGinn’s ostensibly kind words about him, the Spaniard pushed back.

McGinn explained that Emery was “one of our club’s greatest managers” and hoped he “never leaves”. Emery’s retort to such warm appraisal was to “push him more” in training because, in his mind, the “good words” of players suggest underlying signs of complacency.

Emery’s appetite for “Super John McGinn” is insatiable. It drives the Scotland international to the point that, on his 30th birthday, he gave his cake to journalists, knowing there could be no let up in diet or discipline.

“He’s a very good man and a very good player,” said Emery. “But he has to improve his start this year. When we are watching Super John McGinn in the stadium, we are happy, but not always and this is my objective. Every day he has to try to get it.”

McGinn is an earnest character and, more often than not, is good value when talking publicly. There are no airs or graces to him. He gets changed quickly after games, puts on his small backpack and wears shorts, regardless of the weather.

His honesty resonates, arguably none more so than the last time Southampton turned up to Villa Park in 2022. After Villa’s 1-0 victory — serving as a stay of execution for Steven Gerrard — McGinn said, such was the dreariness of the display, that if he had been watching on television, he would have turned the game off.

Although the same fixture was slightly better two years on, he would have at least considered changing channels. Villa won by the same scoreline, and until Ollie Watkins and McGinn himself missed a cluster of chances towards the end, carried the same drift in their performance. “Wet and miserable and three points,” was McGinn’s appropriate evaluation.

In fairness, there were extenuating factors. Storm Darragh and the resulting conditions meant both teams struggled for rhythm. The wind howled and the flags above the Doug Ellis Stand flapped furiously.

How Villa pressed Southampton was critical to Emery. For all of Southampton’s deep and several flaws, they can play through teams and frequently get into good areas.

Emery was clearly cautious of this, with McGinn the trigger of knowing when to press and when for Villa to stay in a 4-4-2 mid-block out of possession. Triggers to press include when the ball is passed backwards, a heavy touch or a miscued pass. If the captain sprinted to close the ball down, team-mates would follow.

Villa’s analysts watched Southampton and knew their propensity to concede cheap goals and give the ball away in key areas. McGinn dovetailed Jhon Duran’s battering ram tendencies and, as what transpired with his goal, Villa pounced on a Southampton mistake.

As Emery alludes to, McGinn’s productivity in forward areas has been inconsistent, but the tangible aspects of what he brings remain instrumental. On a generally timid afternoon, he jolted into tackles. Each time, Villa Park responded by singing his name.

He organised and instructed behind the ball from every free kick, on hand to defend nascent counter-attacks, which has recently proven Villa’s kryptonite. His sweeping diagonal pass that led to a Watkins chance was one of the few pockets of quality from either side.

McGinn earned a hug from director of football operations Damian Vidagany at full time. He was the last player off the pitch but sprinted from the halfway line towards the tunnel. His energy is endless and so too is his commitment to the cause.

For however long he and Emery work together, there will always be a quest for “Super John McGinn”.

[stevo_st]

Thought he was great last night, seemed to have a bit more zip in his play. And lovely bit of late movement to get his goal, made it look so simple the way he lost his man.

[LeonW]

Thought he was great last night, seemed to have a bit more zip in his play. And lovely bit of late movement to get his goal, made it look so simple the way he lost his man.

He really was. Really impressive performance.

[OCD]

Unlucky with the offside too.