With Coleman returning from injury and fresh from captaining Ireland, it was inevitable it was going to bring up the question on his position in the squad.
Honestly, I think Coleman’s been extremely lacklustre for a long time now, probably about two years. He hasn’t got that spark he had in Martinez’ first season, where we saw him bomb down the wing to an extent that he was overlapping his own runs. Recently, he’s been solid defensively but has provided none of that dynamism that he used to, as he was being touted as one of the greatest attacking wing-backs in the world, even attracting interest from Bayern Munich.
That bunch of rumours seem a far cry now, as the emergence of Mason Holgate has completely eclipsed Coleman’s return to the first-team setup.
Holgate came out of nowhere, really, as he followed the path of Stones to the Everton first-team, coming from Barnsley largely unproven. We had high expectations this time, though, entirely because of the Stones story but Holgate’s rise was a slow burner.
He did start off well in Unsworth’s spectacular U21 setup, putting in a few good performances but it was never anything spectacular, and it was most definitely nothing that would have Coleman worried about his position. To add to that, Martinez never really called upon him at any point, preferring both Callum Connolly and Matty Pennington to fill in for Coleman as he picked up that injury late on last campaign, which troubled him until last week.
It was a bit of a shock to many of us when Ronald Koeman called on the youngster in his first Everton squad against Barnsley in pre-season, over the likes of Connolly or the highly-regarded Jonjoe Kenny. But Koeman made the right call as Holgate impressed most of us during pre-season and onwards.
Looking back on my Everton v Spurs predicted XI, I put Holgate in there to start. I wasn’t confident that he would, though, it was more of a gut feeling than a knowledge that he’d have gained Koeman’s trust so readily over the short period that the Dutchman had to work with him. None of us expected the dominant display he’d put out against last season’s best footballing team – and I’m not using Leicester as a point of comparison for any stats or opinion, it was the ultimate anomaly.
But he did and continued to put in MOTM displays for every game this season. Gana Gueye has dealt a cruel hand to Mason, though, as he’s probably stolen the Player of the Season award already – I’m not exaggerating by saying that he’s the greatest Senegalese player since Oumar Niasse, either.
Anyway, we all have enough time to fantasize over Gana on Matchday.
We’re used to players being picked for the squad on reputation over form thanks to Martinez and his tendency to pick his favourites, as shown by the constant appearance of Tim Howard in the Everton goal last season, who would have had to ‘Cantona’ a fan in the Gwladys to be dropped.
Hopefully, under Koeman, it changes, and players who merit the place are given the place in the squad. If that’s the case, Holgate shouldn’t be worried about his place at all.
It’s a blessing in disguise for Coleman, who’s really needed a kick the last few years, his place only being ”threatened” by Tony Hibbert and kids still doing their A-Levels.
Holgate is a talent, there’s absolutely no denying that. Whether he is the complete package is yet to be known, but something has clearly caused Koeman to go back on his words about wanting another Right Back in the window, so someone’s obviously a fan.
I like Holgate. He should be given his proper chance. Put Coleman back there when he deserves it, no earlier.
