Roy Keane has explained his recent comments about John McGinn , where he described the Scotland and Aston Villa star as looking like a “pub player” on a bad day. Following the comments, McGinn scored Scotland ’s winner against Haiti in their opening World Cup group game after a strong end to the season that saw the midfielder lift the Europa League trophy. Speaking on ITV, Keane played down the comments he made ahead of the tournament. “He has been (more consistent). Again, you look
at the success Scotland have had and obviously Villa over the last few years, John McGinn has been a huge part of that,” Keane said. “When you’re doing a podcast, sometimes you make comments, tongue-in-cheek, that when he has a bad day, he looks like a pub player, and I’ve said that about myself many a time. “He explained there that those bad days are not as much as they used to be, and if you ask me, would I want to be in the
trenches with John McGinn? “Bet your life I would. Oh, I’ve huge time for him. Brilliant player and sometimes you make a tongue-in-cheek comment. Absolutely no disrespect to the player, I think he’s been outstanding.” Scotland were unable to build on their positive start to Group C as they were beaten 1-0 by Morocco on Friday night, leading into the early hours of Saturday, thanks to a second-minute strike from Ismael Saibari. On the original comments, Keane said: “McGinn is one of these fellas, when
he has his bad days, he does look like a pub player. “When he’s off it, he’s shocking. I’ve watched him long enough. When he’s bad, wow. But you’d have him in your group. Absolutely.” McGinn did respond to the quotes himself and seemed to take no offence, and agreed with the former Manchester United captain. “He’s getting slagged for that, I didn’t think what he said was that bad! He followed it up with something complimentary,” McGinn told ITV. “He was right. I actually
think the amount of games I’m looking like a pub player is getting less and less as I get older; I try not to have as many games like that and try to be more consistent. But I didn’t think it was too bad.” McGinn continued: “People were saying, ‘Oh, did you see what he said?’. I just thought it was quite nice they were talking about me! He’s right [about Scotland], we’ve got nothing to fear going into these games. “All the pressure’s going
to be on Morocco, all the pressure’s going to be on Brazil.” Want to see more of the stories you love from the Irish Mirror? Making us your preferred source on Google means you’ll get more of our exclusives, top stories and must-read content straight away. To add Irish Mirror as a preferred source, simply click here . Click here to sign up to our sport newsletter, bringing you the top stories and biggest headlines from Ireland and beyond
Roy Keane, John McGinn, Scotland, Aston Villa, World Cup, Haiti, Morocco, Ismael Saibari, Europa League, ITV