“The stadium felt quite flat at the end, It’s important to recognise it’s a victory against a very good team”- John McGinn aims sly dig at Aston Villa fans as he shares what he noticed about at Villa Park after 2-1 v Lille last night
John McGinn has shared what he noticed about the Villa Park atmosphere after Aston Villa’s 2-1 win over Lille on Thursday evening.
It was an important victory for the hosts, who now take a slender lead to northern France for next week’s second leg.
Unai Emery’s side survived a last scare in an uncharacteristic defensive performance. The visitors certainly had chances, and it’s something that must be rectified before next week’s clash.
Ollie Watkins opened the scoring in the 13th minute before John McGinn doubled Villa’s lead early in the second half. Gabrial Gudmundsson saw a goal disallowed for a narrow offside before Bafode Diakite halved the deficit in the 84th minute.
John McGinn shares what he noticed about Aston Villa’s fans against Lille
Despite the win, McGinn has suggested that something felt slightly off at Villa Park on Thursday evening.
The Scot said that Lille’s late goal caused the atmosphere to subdue. He also quickly highlighted that Villa were up against a “very good team”.
A two-goal lead would have put Villa in a very strong position to advance to the semi-finals, so naturally, fans left Villa Park feeling a little flatter than they had 15 minutes beforehand. McGinn admitted that Villa still have lessons to learn when seeing out games.
“It was quite up and down, and the stadium felt quite flat at the end. It’s important to recognise it’s a victory against a very good team,” McGinn said after full-time. “Lille played really well tonight and I think they showed us how tough it’s going to be next week. But we’re in the quarter-finals and while we’d have preferred it to be 2-0, a win’s a win.
“The manager was very frustrated about what happened at the weekend, letting Brentford back into the game. They’re a very good side but we allowed them back in, we relaxed a bit and that’s just not acceptable when you’re chasing what we’re chasing. We’ve got a lot of improving to do.”
Lille’s late goal shouldn’t detract from an impressive victory. The Ligue 1 side were a step up from Ajax in terms of quality.
Villa now know they can hurt Paulo Fonesca’s side and could thrive in transition next Thursday. However, the likes of Jonathan David and Hákon Arnar Haraldsson are more than capable of causing problems, particularly against Villa’s high line. Lee Hendrie even suggested that Lille exploited Villa’s defensive tactic more than any other side he’s seen this season.
A smarter defensive display is required next week. Villa cannot rely on Emi Martinez to continually bail them out of trouble. The Argentine was in fine form and produced a string of impressive saves during the first half in particular.
