Mason Holgate joined Southampton on loan last month with the hope of kick-starting his career away from Everton and Goodison Park.
Two games into his St Mary’s career, though, and the centre-back is perhaps questioning his decision, after yet more disappointing moments for his loan club.
Holgate’s debut was one to forget as he was subbed off against Sunderland with his side four goals behind in an eventual 5-0 drubbing.
For the first time since that defeat, the 26-year-old made a comeback in Saturday’s 23 September, Championship match against Middlesbrough.
However, Holgate received criticism for his performance in the first half and was removed early once more, this time at halftime.
The former England U21 international appeared to be the focus of Boro’s initial right-back attack.
On Twitter 23 September, Daily Echo reporter Alfie House noted that Holgate had “a few run off his right shoulder in the beginning.
The equalizer for Boro was also attributed to Holgate since he “had no idea a man was behind him and was caught in possession.
Holgate’s contribution in the game ended there or very nearly there, as Ryan Manning was substituted for him at the halfway point.
In a 2-1 away loss for the Saints, Holgate completed just 81.8% of his passes WhoScored, the third-worst percentage of any Southampton player on the day.
It wasn’t an entirely terrible performance, either, as the Englishman only had Taylor Harwood-Bellis beat him in the two aerial duels he won.
However, it appears that Holgate now has a similar task at Southampton as he did at Goodison based on those two performances thus far.
Crossing our fingers that the defender can disprove his detractors.
