Martin Keown baffled by Asmir Begovic as Everton are hammered by Aston Villa
Martin Keown was left baffled by Asmir Begovic’s role in Lucas Digne’s own goal as Everton lost 3-0 at Villa Park on Saturday.
Rafa Benitez suffered his first Premier League defeat as Everton boss at the hands of Aston Villa, who scored a quick succession of goals in the second half.
After Matty Cash opened the scoring, Leon Bailey’s corner fooled the Blues’ defence, leading to Digne heading into his own goal.
Begovic’s attempt to stop the own goal was pitiful and Keown took aim at that during his analysis.
“Here’s Bailey now. I’m not sure what the goalkeeper’s doing here, Begovic, and it’s a Lucas Digne own goal,” said Keown as he looked at the goals Everton conceded on Match of the Day on Saturday night [via BBC iPlayer].
Embarrassing
Everton buckled against Aston Villa on Saturday and we really didn’t expect to see that from a team managed by Benitez.
Yes, there were numerous injury issues with Jordan Pickford, Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin among the players missing.
However, we’d expect way better from the players who were on the pitch and especially someone as experienced as Begovic.
The 34-year-old has 63 senior international caps and played over 250 times in the Premier League for numerous clubs.
While it’s not easy for a second-choice goalkeeper to go into a game when the number one is injured, we need to have better.
Begovic should be a solid second-choice for Benitez to step in whenever Pickford is injured or unavailable.
But based on that own goal on Saturday, we’re not so sure that’s the case now.
Let’s hope Pickford is back sooner rather than later.
In other Everton news, a pundit was thrilled by what he saw from Seamus Coleman in a break of play against Burnley.
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