Season › 2020-21 › News Holgate an injury doubt ahead of Spurs clash Lyndon Lloyd Saturday, 5 September, 2020 16comments | Jump to most recent Mason Holgate's readiness for the new season suffered a blow during the first half of Everton's pre-season friendly with Preston this afternoon, with the defender's injury to be assessed. The defender missed the final few games of 2019-20 with a shin problem but he was named in the starting XI of the Blues' second warm-up match of the summer. He had to be withdrawn during the first-half, however, after what looked to be a potentially serious ankle strain and he left Goodison Park on crutches after the 2-0 win. Manager Carlo Ancelotti indicated that it looked as though Holgate had injured his toe and that the club's medical staff would assess the full extent of the issue at Finch Farm tomorrow before any assessment can be made over whether he will make the Premier League season-opener against Tottenham next Sunday. The boss confirmed that Yerry Mina trained this week and is expected to be available for the trip to North London. Reader Comments (16) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer Dave Abrahams 1 Posted 05/09/2020 at 19:07:19 It would be preferable if Holgate is fit and ready to start the Spurs game. Mina couldn't possibly be match fit, unless the reason he hasn't played for a long time is because he is being sold. Colin Glassar 2 Posted 05/09/2020 at 21:11:18 That's why I dislike so much these useless friendlies. Steve Ferns 3 Posted 05/09/2020 at 21:14:02 Holgate walked, rather than limped off. It looked like a knock. He should be okay. Jeff Armstrong 4 Posted 05/09/2020 at 21:49:08 Holgate was the victim of his own sloppiness, again. Tony Hill 5 Posted 05/09/2020 at 21:55:11 I thought he looked a bit overweight but that might have been my eyesight. He's not himself at the moment. Mick Roberts 6 Posted 05/09/2020 at 22:03:39 Holgate looks like he has ate too many pies... Jeff Armstrong 7 Posted 05/09/2020 at 23:04:41 His passing into midfield on 2 occasions was poor, then he cocks up a pass to him and makes amends by diving in and getting injured, I think Holgate is far from the finished player just now, still got a lot to learn and needs to improve his passing a great deal, how anyone thinks he could hack it in midfield is beyond me. Jay Harris 8 Posted 05/09/2020 at 23:16:31 He was one of our standout players until he got that shin injury and doesnt seem himself yet.Disappointed that Brandthwaite didnt get a game today.Spurs is going to be a tough match and we are nowhere near prepared enough yet.What a stupid time to be playing international friendlies. Tom Bowers 9 Posted 05/09/2020 at 23:30:27 So the injury blight has started even before the first game and to a player who is really starting to blossom at the back. Rats !!!! Mike Gaynes 10 Posted 05/09/2020 at 23:33:42 Steve, he definitely limped. Andrew Ellams 11 Posted 05/09/2020 at 23:37:17 He left the ground on crutches so there is definitely some sort of issue there. Ajay Gopal 12 Posted 06/09/2020 at 09:49:46 I think Keane and Gibson would be a decent centre-back partnership. Maybe Branthwaite to shore up the defence in the closing stages. Why didn't Delph and Mina play yesterday? They were both pretty well involved in the practice sessions from what I could see. Are they out injured again, FFS?For Spurs, 4-2-3-1:PickfordKenny Keane Gibson DigneDavies GomesRicharlison Sigurdsson BernardCalvert-LewinNkounkou and Gordon to come on and replace Bernard and Sigurdsson in the final 15 mins to terrorise the Spurs defence. Maybe Allan instead of Branthwaite in the last 10 mins if we are leading by 2 goals (or trailing by 2 goals) to give him a taste of the Premier League. Jim Bennings 13 Posted 06/09/2020 at 13:00:25 Still a player with too many errors in his game, a bit like our entire defence and goalkeeper in fairness.I feel while we may well be closer to solving the central midfield problems now with our new signings, we are still lacking in defence and striker. Tony Everan 14 Posted 06/09/2020 at 14:59:31 The crutches were a precaution just in case he had broken his toe, he will probably have an X-ray today to check it out. If it is broken, it's 4 weeks out, fingers crossed it's just taken a heavy knock and he will be all right. Will Mabon 15 Posted 06/09/2020 at 15:05:41 Colin, the friendlies are a double-edged sword. Must be played for the fitness gains at least, but the risk of injury is there. Jeff Armstrong 16 Posted 06/09/2020 at 15:05:45 Agree Jim, I was starting to wonder if I was watching a different player than a lot of people on here. Whilst he's a great athlete and excellent reader of the game, I feel his passing and positional play is far from him being the finished article. He is still young and is obviously a fast learner, judging from where he was 2 seasons ago. Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. About these ads