It’s a myth that he’s only just coming good. He’s stepped it up a level recently but he was comfortably our best defender last season. He’s one of the only player that showed up the first half of the season.
Id say (before they were injured at the end of last season) Mina was the best up to Decemner and then Holgate was the best.
Undoubtedly the first choice pairing for Ancelotti before injuries allowed Keane and Branthwaite games.
Were now finally seeing Mina having an injury free spell in a back 4 that suits him and Keane.
If you go with Mina and Keane flanked by Godfrey and Holgate with Digne, Allan and Doucoure in front of them i think oppisition teams will find that incredibly difficult to break down.
With the 3 forward players and set piece threats its somewhat an 'exciting' team to watch. In terms of 'the art of defending' i think the longer these players play together they will further gel and under Ancelotti's tutelage we may be looking a similar prospect to George Grahams Arsenal...
I think it's a mistake to think of this set of CBs in terms of a single best XI.
You play Keane/Godfrey (once the latter is fully settled at CB) when you're trying to grind out a 1-0 to the Everton.
You play Mina/Holgate when you're trying to win by scoring three.
When they're all healthy, you pick the pairing by opponent. You're not hanging three on Mourinho or Moyes, so you don't try. You stick a defensive speedster next to your positional CB, rock up and counter. If we get a first-rate RB to pair with Digne, the counter is to Route One it up to Rodriguez and have him pick out a forward or the opposite full back on an overlapping run, or for Digne to just laser it up there.
You punish a side like the RS that likes to press, or just overwhelm leaky sides like Leeds, Brighton and WBA with a more attack-minded pairing where Holgate covers for Mina's deficiencies. You're going to get more set pieces against the RS because they're going to have to commit cynical fouls when they get beat, so you have Mina in to get on the end of those.
You can then make tactical swaps to deal with specific problems. If the other side were Martinez's Belgium, you can replace Keane with Holgate to deal with the speed they're throwing at you on the counter.
Carlo's a master at that stuff, if you give him the pieces to work with. He's generally not going to experiment unless he finds that he has to, but once he determines that he is very good at throwing things at the wall until something sticks.
100% its all about options.
To pick out 2 players in the current back 4 in Mina and Holgate, they both bring something every team needs.
Holgate is clearly asserting himself into a leadership position at the club. Alot of people are saying "Godfrey for captain", as well as Digne, however it seems to me that the most vocal in terms of organisation has been Holgate.
Mina just has this 'never say die' and 'win at all costs' attitude and really puts his body on the line. Whether its his face going towards a boot or just throwing himself to block shots its a fantastic attribute to have.
In addition, his positive attitude seems to be infectious which adds to a feel good factor in the team and more confidence across the back line.
Keane is great in a deep defence and Godfrey almost looks unbeatable at left back.
When you factor in Digne and Branthwaite also to come in as well as (undoubtedly) a new right back signing then it definitely looks to be amongst the strongest defences in the league since the tactical change.
It will be very interesting to see which Right back comes in and the type of player he is.