John McGinn responded to questions over his Scotland form by scoring against North Macedonia, providing another reminder of the qualities that have made the Aston Villa captain so important throughout the club's transformation under Unai Emery.
John McGinn was talking about criticism, competition for his place and the fact that he certainly doesn't consider himself undroppable for Scotland before Saturday night's game against North Macedonia, so it felt fairly typical of the Aston Villa captain that his response was to go out and score in a 2-0 win.
McGinn converted Scotland's second from the penalty spot in Skopje, adding to Kieron Bowie's early opener as Sébastien Pocognoli secured his first victory since taking charge. It was McGinn's 92nd appearance for his country, moving him outright third on Scotland's all-time appearance list, and his 22nd international goal.
McGinn had faced some criticism going into the game after a quieter period internationally and spoke very openly about the expectations that now follow him for both club and country.
"The nature of the beast is, at club and country, you have a lot of responsibility, a lot of weight on your shoulders," McGinn said.
"When you do something well, you're the best thing since sliced bread. When you don't have a great couple of games, or you're not producing assists, or you make a poor pass in a pivotal moment of the game, you're automatically not good enough."
McGinn accepted that criticism comes with where he now finds himself in his career and, when asked whether 91 caps before Saturday's game gave him any sense of being undroppable, his answer was emphatic.
"No, no. I'm certainly not undroppable," he said.
"I don't think anyone in the squad is undroppable. It's the challenge to anyone coming into the squad and I encourage that challenge."
It was interesting listening to him talk about that because I think there are obvious parallels with his situation at Villa, where the competition around him has probably never been greater and yet Unai Emery continues to find different ways of making McGinn important.
I've spoken numerous times over the last few years about wondering what the next version of McGinn would look like, because every time Villa appear to evolve beyond the player he was previously, Emery seems to find another one. He has played from the right, from the left, centrally, deeper in midfield and closer to the striker, and there have been individual games where he has occupied two or three of those areas.
The Nottingham Forest game earlier this season was probably the clearest example for me of why he remains so important. I felt Villa looked absolutely lost without him at times and when he became more influential, including supplying the delivery for the equaliser, you saw again how many different things he can give this team.
Sometimes his versatility can almost become a problem because I do think Villa have moved him around too much at different points, but it is also probably one of the main reasons Emery trusts him so much. There are more naturally gifted players in particular positions and there are now younger players competing for minutes, but there still aren't many people in this squad who you could realistically ask to perform as many different jobs as McGinn does. He is also a fantastic footballer and person.
We know exactly what Emery thinks of him by now.
That doesn't mean he has a divine right to start every match and I actually think McGinn's comments about being undroppable are important in that respect if you were to tailor them to his club side. Villa are no longer in a position where they should have many players who simply play regardless of form, but I almost think McGinn plays, whatever.
McGinn has started all five of Villa's Premier League games this season and already has two assists, the most of any Villa player in the competition. He remains a player Emery trusts tactically and one who can be used to alter the balance of the team without necessarily making a substitution or moving more than one player around.
His importance goes well beyond the tactical side of it as well.
I have probably reached the point where I consider McGinn Villa's greatest player of the Premier League era, certainly when you consider the entirety of what he has done at the club. He arrived for around £2.75million in 2018 when Villa were in the Championship, scored in the play-off final that took them back into the Premier League, helped keep them there, became captain, played Champions League football and eventually lifted the Europa League as Villa captain.
There aren't many players in the modern history of Aston Villa who have been part of such a dramatic change in the club's fortunes and remained genuinely important throughout it.
Different managers have come and gone, the quality of the squad has increased enormously and McGinn himself is now 31, but Emery has probably understood how to use him better than anybody. Rather than asking him to be brilliant at one specific thing every week, he has taken advantage of all the things McGinn can do and his willingness to do whatever is required.
There is something quite fitting about what happened with Scotland this weekend because McGinn spoke before the game about not taking anything for granted and then delivered when his place and recent performances were being questioned.
Afterwards he acknowledged that criticism is simply part of football, saying that when results go against you "things are said about you both personally and as a team", before stressing that Scotland now have to follow the North Macedonia result with another victory against Slovenia on Tuesday.
That attitude probably explains a lot about why McGinn has lasted at Villa as well.
Eventually there will be a point when his role reduces akin to James Milner and Jordan Henderson in the Klopp , Liverpool halycon days. It is inevitable for every player and McGinn himself appears more aware of it than anybody. What I would be reluctant to do, though, is predict when that moment is coming, because we have been having versions of that conversation about him for years, most of the time in some quarters, stupidly.
Villa have continually improved the players around him and Emery has continually found another John McGinn, this summer of flux has almost made him even more important.
Saturday night was just the latest reminder that writing him off tends not to be a particularly sensible thing to do wether it be for club or country.
