John McGinn: Aston Villa must take pride in performance after heartbreaking Liverpool defeat
Midfield ace John McGinn reckons the only way is up for Villa if they continue to hit the heights seen in Saturday’s last-gasp defeat to Liverpool.
An excellent performance from Dean Smith’s men saw them almost inflict a first Premier League defeat since January on the leaders.
Villa led through Trezeguet’s first-half volley until the 87th minute when Andy Robertson levelled, with Sadio Mane then snatching the winner deep into stoppage time.
The result left the hosts in the bottom five but McGinn said: “If we play like that for the rest of the season, we’ll be fine.
“We’re gutted. You’re playing against a top team and we gave such a good account of ourselves and worked so hard – to get undone by two headers is just poor defending.
“But overall we’ve got to be proud of how we played.”
Villa had defended superbly before Robertson eventually broke through, heading home Mane’s cross.
“You’re playing against the champions of Europe and they could be the champions of England this year,” added McGinn. “They don’t give up, they keep going and they probably tired us out too much right at the end.
“Chances were coming and we were just trying to keep them at bay but the ball just keeps coming back at you.
“It was two sloppy goals from our point of view but teams like Liverpool do that to you. They are relentless.
“It was the same with Man City last week, they just drain you mentally. You try your best to press them but they are top teams and full credit to them.
“I was speaking to a couple of the Liverpool lads and they said how impressed they were at the way we played them – carry that on and I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
Villa, who sat in the bottom half of the Championship as recently as March, were applauded off at the final whistle.
“A performance like this would have been unthinkable a few months ago,” admitted McGinn.
“But we’ve got as group of players here that want to keep learning and, at Villa Park, anything is possible.
“The atmosphere was unreal and we kept pushing and pushing. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be our day. Maybe the next time they come calling, we’ll be a bit closer.
“There is so much interest in Villa at the minute, the club is only going one way.”
