John McGinn arrived at Aston Villa in August 2018 as a relative unknown, with a modest price tag and pedigree, making the move south from the Scottish Premier League. In the 16 months since then, the Scot has more than made his mark: adding energy, steel and spectacular moments to Villa’s midfield.
The man known as ‘Meatball’ has taken England by storm, excelling in the Championship and etching his name into Aston Villa history by scoring the goal that sealed promotion. McGinn’s rise showed no signs of stopping as he hit the ground running in the Premier League, with his all-action performances leading to rumours of interest from Manchester United.
In recent weeks however, McGinn’s progress has stalled and he has been found guilty of some unusually anonymous displays.
There have been reports of Super John playing through a partial muscle tear and needing painkilling injections before matches, but Villa boss Dean Smith has denied that there are any issues with McGinn’s fitness. Indeed, it’s difficult to imagine Smith putting one of his star players at risk of a long-term injury, especially with plenty of other midfielders in the squad who have been knocking on the door for game time.
The reasoning for McGinn’s recent decline may be unclear, but the proof of his drop-off in performance is indisputable.
The most obvious change is that McGinn’s influence in goal creation has dried up. Following 5 combined goals and assists in the first 11 games of the season, McGinn hasn’t scored or assisted a goal in the last 6 games and has only taken 1 shot across the last 4 matches after averaging 2.92 shots per game before that.
More concerning is McGinn’s diminished involvement in the middle of the pitch, where he has previously been dominant:
| Category | First 9 games (per game avg) | Last 8 games (per game avg) |
| Actions (interactions with ball) | 71.33 | 64.5 |
| Dribbles | 6.89 | 4.5 |
| Duels | 27.78 | 23.25 |
| Offensive duels | 13.78 | 9.88 |
| Passes received | 20.44 | 17.63 |
Another noteworthy statistic is that McGinn won 80.1% of his defensive duels in the first 10 games – including 4 games where he won 100% of them – compared to 55.31% in Villa’s last 7 contests.
It’s important to consider the fact that Villa’s schedule has stiffened up over the last two months via a run of matches against the ‘Big 6’, but in three of their biggest no-shows of the season – against Wolves, Sheffield United and Leicester – Villa’s midfield was exposed as soft and that shouldn’t be the case with someone as potentially inspiring as John McGinn involved. His trademark relentlessness has undoubtedly been missing and Villa have suffered as a result.
All of this is not to say McGinn has been poor, just not as consistently influential as Villa fans have become accustomed to. Dean Smith rightly pointed out that McGinn looked much more like his usual self against Chelsea and the stats back that up, as McGinn had a higher percentage of successful actions (67%) than in any game since Villa’s 5-1 demolition of Norwich over two months ago.
Smith still appears to be to figuring out how to get the best out of McGinn and his pal Jack Grealish, since the influx of new players in the summer. Perhaps McGinn is suffering from not being able to link up with Grealish, since the captain was moved out wide. There has also been a lot of rotation in Villa’s midfield week-to-week and this may be hindering McGinn’s ability to find a reliable partner to run the engine room with.
Whatever the factors behind McGinn’s dwindling impact, it’s a problem that needs fixing quickly, with a pivotal four-game stretch in Aston Villa’s season about to begin. The success or failure of Villa’s campaign is likely to hinge on getting the best out of their most important players, of which John McGinn is certainly one.
Mark Oldacres
The Villa Ramble 
Leave a comment