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‘Knackered’, ‘off the pace’: Some Aston Villa fans beg Dean Smith to give struggling star a rest

Giuseppe Labellarte

Thu 4 February 2021 9:45, UK

A number of Aston Villa fans have urged Dean Smith to give John McGinn a rest following his lacklustre performance on Wednesday night.

The 26-year-old has made 19 Premier League appearances this season, playing the full 90 minutes in each of those.

McGinn has also played Villa’s last three league games in a row, and against West Ham, he looked particularly leggy.

He weighed in with a couple of decent flicks in the first half, but much like most of his teammates, soon ran out of steam.

Villa were beaten 3-1 by West Ham, who went 2-0 up through Tomas Soucek and Jesse Lingard.

Although Ollie Watkins halved the deficit on 81 minutes, Lingard restored the visitors’ two-goal advantage not long after.

And plenty of Villa fans noted how the normally impressive McGinn looked exhausted, urging Smith not to play him against Arsenal on Saturday:

Am I the only one who thinks Mcginn needs to up his game? Has looked off the pace since Chelsea away

— jack.avfc (@jackavfc1)

Probably knackered like the rest of them because Smith won’t rotate!

— Sam Hunt (@sam5hunt)

Villa as a collective looked jaded from the off tonight. Luiz especially in the last two games. I’d make a few changes V Arsenal. Nakamba for McGinn and Sanson for Barkley. Give the lads a deserved rest on the bench.

— Denis_White_1973 (@deniswhite1114)

He’s exhausted

— nick (@nickgd99)

LOOK AT MCGINN DEAN HE CAN’T RUN…..FFS

— Villa Views (@VillaViews_)

McGinn was dead on his feet. He isn’t the machine he has been in previous seasons, we can all see that. Deano missed it.

— FootyNut (@CliffRoberts1)

Its not even that. Hes playing every 2 3 days so hes running out of gas

— Ollie Baxter (@OllieBaxter97)