Emery’s men left it late to turn it on against a Roy Hodgson-less Crystal Palace, with Jhon Duran, Douglas Luiz and Leon Bailey netting after the 86th minute to send travelling Eagles fans home heartbroken.
Their unbeaten home record still intact, Emery’s astute substitutions led to the quick turnaround at Villa Park after a blistering first half that had everything but a goal – even a Moussa Diaby disallowed goal.
While a late comeback often emerges as a highlight of a team’s season, one man who will want to forget the afternoon altogether is McGinn, who witnessed the victory from the bench after a torrid 71 minutes.
McGinn led his side out keen to bounce back from the pre-international break humbling against Liverpool. He would have been frustrated by his lacklustre performance at Anfield, but he was not alone on that front. Eager to avoid another defeat, Crystal Palace looked a winnable fixture and an ideal platform for McGinn to recover some form.
In this respect, the Scotsman failed, and for the betterment of the side, Emery should consider dropping the ex-Hibs player.
While they’re obviously not directly related, McGinn’s departure with 20 minutes to go coincided with Villa’s sudden turnaround. It could lead you to think that McGinn’s lack of attacking threat was an issue considering his replacement – Duran – netted just 16 minutes after coming on
Of course, Emery changed his tactics to facilitate the late surge, but if the Scottish international had been more dependable, the Spaniard could have avoided such an energy-consuming finale.
Credit where credit’s due, McGinn earned himself one key pass, while his 87% pass completion showed he was dependable at maintaining possession, but this is the extent of his positive contribution [SofaScore].
McGinn failed to have any shots in the game, had a 44% ground duel success rate, made just a single tackle and attempted just two dribbles – one of which was successful.
With just 0.06 xG, he was outclassed by his replacement Duran, whose strong chest control provided the perfect chance to leather the ball from outside the box past a helpless Sam Johnstone in the Palace net.
McGinn did not have as much possession as he’d have hoped, but he struggled to get the ball in dangerous areas. his heatmap shows his inability to get into the opposition box, holding the ball primarily between the centre circle and the edge of the box.
