2017/18 Mason Holgate

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He was very poor for the goal, but christ sake somebody else should have come across, as others have pointed out hes a young lad, but I thought he did reasonably well.
 
Good lad and unfair that we played him. He is not ready yet and I hope that the people who kept calling for him to be included take note and give him more time to develop.
 
I still wonder how early on he found out he was going to play CB today as it seemed no one knew Keane was missing till he was pictured on crutches before the game so have to think he may well have been thrown in over night with no training preparation for it.

I do think Kenny probably would have started next to Keane but didn't fancy risking 2 young lads on one side of the backline (Even though we looked miles better after both were on). You never know though with Koeman and his love for Cuco could have been planned to start all along.

As for Holgate i'm surprised to see some of the bed wetting not just on here but mates who have written him off after 1 game, one of my biggest pet peeves from when Stones played here was his insistence on sliding early to block a shot, it cost Holgate today and i just hope he will learn now that you have to stay standing but also be tighter to his man in the 1st place, he realized this and then went to the next extreme and got spun like a picturesque Williams attempt and ended up flat on his bum with no cover behind.

Sounds like Keane is going to miss 1/2 games and Jags could be out for a little bit so he's going to have a couple of games to grow in to the position and make it his, i'd still like to see him and Keane next to each other as there is potentially a good balance for the 2 of them it's just whether one is capable from the left, think Holgate would be the more likely after playing LB but would have to worry about learning CB against experienced pro's and worrying about positional awareness on the opposite side of the pitch.
 

Aerial side probably the weakest part of his game, King had the better of him there.

For the goal, the problem came from our right side - there wasn't near enough numbers to press.

He'll get better. He doesn't panic and has a good turn of speed on him. Don't really want to see him at fullback anymore as he doesn't offer as much as Kenny going forward.
 

Did dive in a few times but was completely sold down the river a few times by coco deciding to play right wing and leaving him two on one with neither schneiderlin or gueye filling in at right back. King will do anyone for pace and as soon as he was goalside Holgate wasn't going to get back. Probably should have taken a yellow by just tugging him back when he got turned but should not have been in that position in the first place and was let down by his more experienced team mates. Will learn from it and is a top prospect.
 
He was very poor for the goal, but christ sake somebody else should have come across, as others have pointed out hes a young lad, but I thought he did reasonably well.

The lad dragged him right across the space where apparently we should have had two defensive midfielders in

In fact the entire thing is a horror show from a few players, Martina goes pursuing Stanislav from our half about twenty yards deep into theirs and gets the ball simply knocked past him to the Daniels occupying the spot he vacated, cos Martina has pressed so far upfield both Schneiderlin and Gueye have pushed up with him into their half - presumably to do a higher press or some such.

Meaning that with a absolutely simple ball it's 3 on 3 with Daniels running with the ball - basically making it 4 on 3 - Holgate has to cover against Daniels going wide and King as well as Schneiderlin tries but can't get over quick enough, Gueye is ambling backas the balls wide initially, Holgate gets caught long enough in no mans land trying to cover two players and so king can run off him and get into space, Williams and Baines more concerned with their own man and Williams especially drops deep and kinda does nothing but give King the time and space to pick his spot, and Holgate isn't quick enough to close the space against King.

Another example of why two defensive midfielders at times is utterly pointless if when you need them they aren't anywhere near where they should be. Least one of them should have been in and around the space that King had to run into
 
Did dive in a few times but was completely sold down the river a few times by coco deciding to play right wing and leaving him two on one with neither schneiderlin or gueye filling in at right back. King will do anyone for pace and as soon as he was goalside Holgate wasn't going to get back. Probably should have taken a yellow by just tugging him back when he got turned but should not have been in that position in the first place and was let down by his more experienced team mates. Will learn from it and is a top prospect.

Aye the focus is on Holgate for making a mistake when in reality he was the only one trying to do something about it after others made mistakes by being out of position - see any three of Schneiderlin, gueye and especially martina
 

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