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View: Holgate must be dropped after costly mistake v Aston Villa
Everton fell to their first loss in five Premier League games when they faced Aston Villa on Saturday, and it’s a game Mason Holgate will hope to forget.
The 24-year old was solely culpable for Villa’s opening strike, choosing to turn back towards goal under pressure instead of sending the ball to Lucas Digne down the line, subsequently losing a battle of strength to Ollie Watkins who then duly dispatched.
Everton were able to get back level through Dominic Calvert-Lewin but they never fully settled after their rocky start, with Anwar El Ghazi finding a deserved winner ten minutes from time.
Three of the four goals Everton have conceded in their last three league games have come directly from a defensive error, with Holgate unfortunately at the heart of each one.
Conceding against Villa in this manner felt the most egregious of the lot however, with Holgate’s mistake being entirely avoidable and completely of his own doing.
The former Barnsley man has been brilliant for the Blues in the past, and making such a disappointing mistake isn’t in his character, but regardless it will have Carlo Ancelotti thinking.
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Everton far too often have failed to win games that they should comfortably claim all three points in this season, and the Italian boss could be excused for thinking his central defenders are primarily to blame.
Michael Keane, Yerry Mina, Ben Godfrey and Holgate have all received plentiful game time in the centre of Everton’s defence this season, with Ancelotti seemingly not set on what his best partnership is.
Over the course of the current campaign it would be safe to claim that Godfrey has been the most consistent, but quite who partners him in the long-term remains up in the air.
Perhaps the persistent errors in recent weeks may have changed Ancelotti’s mind about signing another central defender this summer, with the manager having previously stated that he wouldn’t look for more strength in that position.
Either way, Holgate must find himself removed from the starting line-up when Everton face West Ham this weekend, with maximum points an absolute priority at the London Stadium.
In other Everton news, Everton want to sign ‘world class’ record-breaker and they’re ready to pay a big signing-on fee.
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