Unai Emery has been told he has a ‘unique’ player at Aston Villa who is an ‘absolute nightmare’ for the opposition to play against.
In the aftermath of their defeat against Arsenal, Morgan Rogers was the Aston Villa player who received the most praise for his performance.
Jamie Redknapp dubbed Rogers as ‘unplayable’ for Villa, with the 22-year-old coming out on top of his battle against Declan Rice and Thomas Partey in midfield.
The attacking midfielders’ sheer strength and power saw Rogers receive comparisons to Real Madrid superstar Jude Bellingham, who is inarguably the most talented Englishman on the planet.
Rogers was also dubbed ‘the best player on the park’ ahead of Arsenal duo Bukayo Saka and William Saliba but he wasn’t the only individual who was picked out for praise after the defeat.
Aston Villa captain John McGinn is an ‘absolute nightmare’ to play against
Aston Villa captain John McGinn is one of the first names on the team sheet due to his ferocious pressing and neverending bar of stamina.
The Scotsman has started in the left-10 position for Emery, with the 29-year-old drifting into midfield when Villa have possession.
McGinn played a unique role against Arsenal as he was tasked with stopping the passing lanes into Bukayo Saka and doubling up on the Englishman.
He did an excellent job of protecting left-back Lucas Digne while keeping arguably the most dangerous winger in the Premier League quiet.
Villa journalist John Townley has described McGinn’s role as ‘unique’ and believes the energy and work rate he brings out of possession makes him an ‘absolute nightmare’ to play against.
Speaking on the Claret & Blue podcast, Townley said: “I just feel like McGinn is a player who’s quite easy to look over because he’s not particularly sexy on the ball.
“Even out of possession, you have to appreciate what he brings and then no one else in the squad can do that to his level and in the Premier League as well. I just think he’s so unique that he must be an absolute nightmare to play against.”
Aston Villa wish they could merge John McGinn and Jacob Ramsey into one player
In search of a winning goal against Arsenal, McGinn replaced Jacob Ramsey in the 65th minute.
Emery attempted to go more attacking and wanted to utilise the attacking thrust of Ramsey to break the deadlock.
However, substituting the Scottish machine unsurprisingly made Villa weaker defensively as Saka was then afforded more space to shine on the right as his cross inadvertently fell to Leandro Trossard, who scored with his first touch moments after McGinn went off.
From there, it was an uphill battle for the Villans to come back and salvage a draw as 10 minutes later, Saka assisted Partey, who arrowed his finish into the bottom right corner.
It was at moments like this where Emery perhaps wishes he could merge McGinn and Ramsey into one player as he’d have a player defensively excellent and one capable of making a difference in the final third.
That was what Ramsey did in the 2-1 win over West Ham by assisting Jhon Duran from the bench but on this occasion, replacing his captain didn’t pay off.
