John McGinn Scotland starter guarantee sparks lively radio debate as case made for cult hero to be benched

Former Scotland international Leeann Crichton said she would have “no objections” to Tartan Army darling John McGinn being dropped from Steve Clarke’s starting XI for the Euro 2024 showdown against Hungary in Stuttgart.

Crichton, capped 72 times for the dark blues women’s team, said she has reservations over the Aston Villa midfield dynamo’s match sharpness and reckons Ryan Christie could be a better option, although she concedes Clarke is unlikely to make such a huge call. McGinn, 29, has been a huge part of Scotland’s success under Clark but there have been question marks over his contribution in the two Group A games and Crichton said on BBC Sportsound: “I do have reservations as to how match sharp and on it John McGinn is.

"I think he’s going to be massive for us regardless but I look at the energy levels of Ryan Christie and I wouldn’t have objections to him coming in and McGinn going out. I would have Lawrence Shankland up top so Christie and McTominay would play underneath Shankland, effectively.

“If you were bringing on a John McGinn at 60 minutes in a game that is perhaps tight and you’re looking to win it, I think it would give everyone a massive lift. He really struggled in the first game, did a power of running in the second game with very little influence in possession. For whatever reason we just don’t seem to be using John McGinn to his strengths.

“There’s not enough time the ball is fed into him and he can spin a player and his higher up the pitch. I don’t know if it’s down to tactics of John McGinn coming off the back of the season he’s had and just not being bang at it. Or the pressure and expectation of the Tartan Army and what they want from him that he’s been unable to reach those heights. I wouldn’t object to Ryan Christie being given the chance to go and show what he can do in a game where he would have more influence.”

McGinn’s former St Mirren team-mate and fellow BBC pundit Steven Thompson said: “I’d still have John in the team. I would have two sitting midfielders - McGregor and Gilmour - with McTominay in the No. 10 position and John to the left and James Forrest to the right with Shanks up top.”

And Neil McCann reckons a positional change for McGinn could help him influence the game more. He said: “I would bring John back a wee bit. He was too high for me the other night. It’s not his game. I like to see John arriving into the box rather than backing in. I’d bring him back and release him at the right time.”