'If you're a team-mate of his, you're going mad at him'
- Published
Former Premier League striker Alan Shearer believes centre-back Mason Holgate's straight red card "cost them massively" as Brighton went on to hit five goals past the Blades at Bramall Lane.
"It was a terrible challenge. It was going to be a very difficult day anyway for Sheffield United - Mason Holgate made it into an impossible day for Sheffield United," ex-Newcastle United captain Shearer told Match of the Day 2.
"If you're a team-mate of his, you're going in there at half-time and you're going mad at him because he's cost them massively. He's made the players have to work perhaps a lot harder than they should have at times. But it's an awful challenge, a terrible challenge. There's no doubt about it that it deserved a red card."
Former Everton midfielder Leon Osman added: "We can't understand how he [Kaoru Mitoma] managed to play on in the game. I'm not sure that I've seen a worse tackle, certainly this season, and I'm trying to search my mind for a worse tackle than that.
"I don't know if he's seen red. I don't think anything aggressive happened in the game. I don't know why he felt the need to make that tackle - it wasn't in a dangerous position on the field. He's certainly put his opponent's career in danger with that tackle."
