Aston Villa captain John McGinn was one of Unai Emery’s best performers during the Villans’ 2-1 defeat to Manchester United on Sunday afternoon.
Aston Villa suffered their second defeat of the week on Sunday afternoon, as Unai Emery’s side lost 2-1 at Villa Park to Manchester United in the Premier League.
A first-half goal courtesy of Rasmus Hojlund carved the hosts open after just 17 minutes, causing Villa to apply pressure in the final third before breaking their deadlock in the 67th minute of play.
Douglas Luiz was the hero once more, netting his seventh goal of the Premier League season to communicate his worth to the manager’s set-up in midfield alongside Boubacar Kamara.
Just as Villa began to push for a winning goal in front of their home crowd, Diogo Dalot found Scott McTominay in space in the box, seeing the Scotsman beat Matty Cash to the ball to secure the win for United with four minutes to spare.
While the result was a tough one for the hosts to take, it wasn’t all doom and gloom from a Villa point of view, as some individual performances were particularly impressive.
How John McGinn performed against Manchester United
In a true captain’s performance, John McGinn rose above the rest to secure a 7.7 Sofascore match rating, the highest of any of his teammates against the Red Devils.
In the 87 minutes the 29-year-old played, the Scotland international misplaced just one of his 24 attempted passes, securing a pass completion rate of 96% to cement himself as a reliable presence around the midfield.
Among his 23 completed passes, the skipper recorded three key passes and created one big chance, acting as Emery’s playmaker in a game that was highly contested in all areas of the pitch.
From his two shots on target to help in the final third, to recording two tackles and winning four ground duels, McGinn was a shining light of Emery’s XI against United, seeing him receive a host of praise during the contest.
What was said about John McGinn’s performance
Speaking on BBC 5 Live during the fixture, former Republic of Ireland striker and pundit, Clinton Morrison, dubbed one particular passage of play that McGinn was involved in as “outstanding”.
The form Ollie Watkins is in, he should score. The touch from McGinn is outstanding and Watkins should dink it over the goalkeeper. It’s easy saying it up here, I’ve been there.”
Morrison wasn’t alone in his praise for the Villa skipper, as journalist Miguel Delaney took to Twitter X to laud Emery’s versatile asset.
“McGinn is so irritatingly good – which I mean in a positive way. Makes a right nuisance of himself, always there, uses his body well. Must be a nightmare to play against.”
Game after game the Scotsman proves his worth to Villa, with his and his teammate’s eyes firmly on responding to their defeat to Manchester United against Fulham on Saturday.
