By Pranav Shahaney

8th Apr, 2023 | 2:56pm

Ex West Ham United coach Stuart Pearce savages Everton ace Ben Godfrey in Manchester United loss

Former West Ham coach Stuart Pearce tore into Everton defender Ben Godfrey for his performance against Manchester United.

The Englishman started at left-back and was often caught out of position with United having plenty of fun down his side en route to a 2-0 victory.

He was rightly booted off at half-time, but there was a moment in the first half where he had to make a recovery run from the half-line just to ensure his positioning error does not lead to the concession of a goal.

Speaking on talkSPORT, Pearce said, “I’m just astounded. Godfrey is five yards in his half, he’s looking at the flight of the ball thinking, ‘I’ve got it, I’ve got it, I’ve got it, ohh it’s gone behind me!’

“It’s awful defending. If I was Dyche I would take Godfrey off the pitch. I think he’s having a disaster.

“Even at this stage of the game I’d get him off the pitch, because he’s going to cost you a goal.”

Shocking

It’s ridiculous how Godfrey was not taken off midway through the first half as his display was shocking and he certainly looked like he was going to cost his team the game.

They looked much more solid defensively when Mykolenko was on and that’s clearly because the Ukrainian’s positional awareness is top notch in comparison.

It will be a surprise if the Englishman starts over him in the next game as this was perhaps the last straw and he’s best suited to playing centrally.

Sean Dyche has got a lot right in his stint at Goodison Park, but playing Godfrey at left-back is certainly not one of those moments.

It’s going to be tough for the Toffees to avoid relegation with their wretched away form and hopefully, they get better on the road in the next few games.

Everton may stay up solely because of their displays at Goodison Park but that’s sometimes not enough and they do need to be picking up some more points on the road.