Prince Rupert's Tower
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Holgate entering critical time in Everton career

By Matt Townsend

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 20: Sadio Mane of Liverpool evades the tackle of Mason Holgate of Everton during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Everton at Anfield on February 20, 2021 in Liverpool, England. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 20: Sadio Mane of Liverpool evades the tackle of Mason Holgate of Everton during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Everton at Anfield on February 20, 2021 in Liverpool, England. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images) /
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With just over 24 hours before Everton face Southampton at Goodison Park, one player who needs to step up and make a stronger claim to a place in this Toffees team is Mason Holgate.

The defender has been a player who has divided opinion among Everton supporters for a while. Holgate was a young player who showed plenty of initial promise when he first got a chance in the team but then like so many of these youth products, he seemed to lose his way.

Part of the problem was that he didn’t seem to have an obvious position. Was he a central defender or a full-back? To be honest it wasn’t clear where he was best suited to playing.

Holgate wasn’t the biggest or the most dominating defender but he had pace and was very comfortable on the ball making him versatile. But that versatility was perhaps part of his undoing as it meant he was shuffled around at the back.

His performances were also very inconsistent at times as they so often are with young players and so eventually he went out on loan to West Brom as the Blues sought to give him the experience to find his best position and form.

When he finally came back to Everton it was again unclear whether he would be able to hold down a regular place in the Toffees side.

Then he got a chance to play alongside Michaeal Keane last season after Kurt Zouma returned to Chelsea at the end of his loan and the Blues failed to sign another centre-back.

Early on Holgate generally impressed and formed a solid partnership with the former Burnley defender. It seemed he might have at last begun to fulfil that potential. He even played effectively in midfield a few times under caretaker boss Duncan Ferguson.

But then injury interrupted his progress again and when he got hurt in pre-season, the club went into the transfer market and bought Ben Godfrey. And then Carlo Ancelotti started this campaign with Yerry Mina alongside Keane.

Both Mina and Keane have done well, although I still think that as a pair they lack enough pace without support out wide.

After he returned from injury Holgate couldn’t get into the team and Godfrey was preferred when an injury to Seamus Coleman in the Goodison derby forced Ancelotti to replace his captain and right-back.

Then with injuries to both his full-backs, Ancelotti decided to play a defence with four centre-backs and Holgate came in on the right.

This new-look defence did very well and gave Everton a much-needed solid base as the team ground out some important results over the hectic Christmas and New Year period.

But now Holgate faces a real challenge. Mina and Keane have been consistently excellent and Godfrey is a revelation playing superbly at left-back and in central defence.

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The ex-Norwich player is now virtually undroppable and so combined with the return of Coleman and Lucas Digne, it seems as though Holgate will be the odd man out again. His form has also been more inconsistent lately, reawakening those doubts about him.

Holgate did play well in a back-three at Anfield alongside Keane and Godfrey and I do think ideally he probably best suits a three man defence.

But it remains to be seen whether Ancelotti will stick with this or revert to the back four he has usually gone with.

Regardless, Holgate needs to up his  game and he can take inspiraiton from a team-mate who also first got his chance in an Everton shirt around the same time as the defender: Tom Davies.

Davies also struggled to find a place in the Toffees side for several years and there were many fans, including me, who weren’t convinced he was good enough for the Premier League.

But now Davies has been in great form at the base of the Blues midfield. He has perhaps at last begun to reply the considerable faith shown in him by Ancelotti. Like Davies, the defender is no longer a young player with potential he’s got to start delivering. That’s the challenge for Holgate and we will see if he too can rise to it.