I predicted early in 2019 Villa would make the play offs once Grealish returned.
Forget McGinn it’s Grealish who is a leader and bosses everything. McGinn doesn’t know what he’s doing without him.
Let’s hope they struggle.
It's both of them. In fact it's the midfield three. They set up perfectly to play 4-3-3.
Hourahane is the one who sits and protects and forms the base the others play off. When we played 4-3-3 we had Brunt at the base. Completely the wrong type of player for that system. Barry or Field are the only players on our books who can effectively play that role.
McGinn is like dogshit. He's everywhere. Endless energy, up and down, will compete, cover every blade. Also offers a goal threat We never had a player who could properly play this role until Johansen came in.
Grealish and Phillips are different but both can carry the ball, draw fouls and beat a man. Unfortunately when Johansen arrived Phillips was never fit so we had a broken midfield.
That Villa three were the reason they became the team they became. Take one out and they are not the same team. Added to that they had two capable full backs, two capable centre halves, a winger direct who could vary his game and a striker that scored 25 goals.
Best team in the league since Grealish came back from his injury and I include Norwich in that.