Everton returned to winning ways on Saturday, beating Southampton 2-1 at St Mary’s, and Mason Holgate was one of many players to receive praise on social media from supporters – Djibril Sidibe’s performance was lauded too.
The 23-year-old started the season behind Yerry Mina and Michael Keane before being given the nod from Marco Silva after Mina picked up an injury. He’s stayed in the starting lineup ever since and is faring well at centre-back.
https://twitter.com/Brom68/status/1193231978621030400?s=20
Mason Holgate’s time to shine now, been really impressive the last few weeks but he has to build on that with consistency and make it impossible to be dropped! UTFT!
Tom Davies deserves massive praise as well, another decent performance 👏🏼 👏🏼 #EFC
— Harky 🏴 (@PHarky83) November 9, 2019
Mason Holgate has been great the past few weeks. Hope he can continue his form. Looks a player in there. #efc
— Toffee Art (@ToffeeArt) November 9, 2019
https://twitter.com/MattJFootball/status/1193211659252371467?s=20
https://twitter.com/patkampf/status/1193211520752201728?s=20
Against Southampton, Holgate played a full 90 minutes, made 56 touches, won one aerial duel, created one chance, had two shots, completed 80.4% of his 46 passes, made three tackles and made four clearances.
The former England u21 international has made eight appearances in all competitions this season, scoring and creating three goals. Silva was very short on cover in defence, but Holgate’s form has laid any worries to rest.
Everton went into the 2019/20 campaign with only two established centre-backs in Mina & Keane. Holgate was backup and wasn’t expected to heavily feature until injury forced Silva’s hand.
Should Mason Holgate keep his place at centre-back?
Yes
No
The Toffees next face Norwich City (home) after the international break and Holgate should keep his place at the heart of the backline.