Everton were not playing yesterday, but one of their players has still dominated the headlines for something he did in the Premier League.
It is a wonder why any teams around them would have wanted the Toffees’ cast-offs given how woeful they have been in recent years, but it is the measure of Sheffield United’s lack of quality that they were so desperate to pry Mason Holgate from Southampton and give him the minutes he was lacking.
Already that has backfired, with his first three starts in the division resulting in one five-goal drubbing and this latest red card.
It was a heinous challenge, and one which has rightly drawn widespread scrutiny. Alan Shearer is the latest to weigh in…
What Alan Shearer said about Mason Holgate
Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast alongside Gary Lineker, the former Newcastle United and Blackburn Rovers striker pulled no punches when speaking about Holgate’s actions in Super Sunday’s late kick-off.
Not only did he threaten Kaoru Mitoma, but by earning his dismissal so early, he left Chris Wilder’s side wide open for another hefty loss.
Shearer was furious, and detailed as much: ‘I thought it was a terrible, terrible, awful challenge. I thought it was one of those where he thinks this is a free hit, I can take the ball and the man. And it was a shocking challenge.
‘As a manager and a team you plan all week what you are going to do and then you get one of your players sent off for such a crazy challenge like that. It must drive you bonkers.’
A true horror tackle from the on-loan Everton man
VAR has come under intense scrutiny across the last few years, and rightly so, for its inept usage and the volume of errors it continues to make despite it being brought in to iron out those mistakes.
If anything, this technology has provoked more controversy than ever, but now that the Premier League has pulled it out of the bag, it cannot be put away.
There is far too much money in the game for decisions to go awry without such a backup, and even if the officials continue to get it wrong, acts like yesterday offer a defence for why it was brought in.
Holgate’s horror challenge was a nasty one, and the entire stadium knew it. However, the one person’s opinion who mattered was the referee, and whether he was unsighted or unaware, he saw fit to only administer a yellow card at first.
Unsurprisingly, it was quickly upgraded to red, and the 27-year-old was given his marching orders.
It is a view that Evertonians had become frustratingly accustomed to seeing, even if it did not always result in a dismissal. His recklessness was renowned on Merseyside.
There really is no place in the game for those kinds of tackles anymore, and it is a good thing that VAR was there to correct the referee’s initial error. He had to go.
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