Roy Keane brands Scotland star a ‘pub player’ in brutal putdown – ‘I’ve watched him long enough…’ | OneFootball

Roy Keane has branded Aston Villa and Scotland star John McGinn a “pub player”, claiming “when he’s off it, he’s shocking.”

McGinn has 86 caps for Scotland and played every minute of their World Cup qualification campaign while also starring for Aston Villa under Unai Emery.

The Villa skipper got ten goals and eight assists from midfield in all competitions to help Villa to fourth in the Premier League and to the Europa League title, scoring a brace in the semi-final against Nottingham Forest.

It’s therefore something of a surprise that Keane labelled the 31-year-old a “pub player” on the Stick To Football podcast.

The Ireland legend said: “He’s one of these fellas, when he’s bad, when he has his bad days, he does look like a pub player.

“When he’s off it, he’s shocking. When he’s bad, wow.”

“I’ve watched him long enough. And the stats are, when he’s in the team week in week out, you go ‘if these managers all like him..’”

Fellow pundits Ian Wright and Gary Neville were shocked by Keane’s assessment.

Wright said: “I don’t seem him play many bad games.”

Neville said: “But Roy, you’d have him in your team wouldn’t you? You’d have him in your group.”

And Keane agreed: “Oh you’d have him in your group. Absolutely. And it’s no surprise that Villa doing well and he is at the forefront of that.”

McGinn to ‘play the game’ this summer

McGinn has been criticised for his performances for Scotland at the last two European Championships and says he will “focus on playing the game and not the occasion” this summer.

He said: “Personally, I will do certain things differently.

“I didn’t play at my best in the last two major tournaments, alongside probably some others in the group.

“In these games, in these tournaments, you need your big players to come up with big moments.

“I will enjoy the excitement building up to it, but as it gets closer to the games I will focus on playing the game and not the occasion.”

Scotland take on Haiti in their first Group C game on Sunday in a crucial clash ahead of tough tests against Morocco and Brazil.