Danny Mills believes that Marco Silva must have seen something special in Mason Holgate for him to have dropped Michael Keane.
Keane has been left out of the starting line-up for Everton’s last two games against Tottenham and Watford (in the Cup), and the consensus seems to be that Holgate and Yerry Mina are the starting duo going forward.
Once an irreplaceable part of Silva’s team, Keane has now found himself on the bench and Mills doesn’t believe he has done anything wrong, with the former England defender claiming there isn’t much between him and Holgate.
Holgate and Mina are expected to start together again this weekend when the Toffees take on Southampton on the South Coast, and Mills claims that the 23-year old must be keeping his place because Silva has seen something in him that he likes.
Talking to Football Insider, Mills said:
I don’t think Holgate’s done anything wrong and Keane hasn’t done anything massively wrong either, there’s not an awful lot between them.
Maybe he’s (Silva) just thinking there’s an opportunity, young lad doing well in training, they haven’t been keeping clean sheets so just switch it up a little bit. Maybe he has a slightly better relationship with Yerry Mina or with the goalkeeper, whatever it might be.
There’s obviously something that Marco Silva’s seen to make the switch.
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I sort of agree with Mills, but I sort of don’t. I do think there is an element of rotation behind Silva’s thought process, because if things aren’t working it can’t hurt to experiment with different tactics and personnel.
However, I would argue that Holgate has taken his chances well this season and he deserves to keep his spot on the merits of his ability. Keane has dropped off slightly in the last month, and while he is by no means below par or in a rough patch so to speak, he hasn’t been up to his usual standard.
Everton should always operate under a meritocratic system that awards those who perform well, and lately Holgate has been doing just that.
