'Should be banned for the season!' - Fans SLAM Mason Holgate for horror challenge on Brighton's Kaoru Mitoma that sees defender handed quickest red card of the season

Just 10 minutes into the game, Mason Holgate flew into a 50-50 challenge with Brighton's Mitoma and caught the Japanese international high on the knee. The challenge, originally given as a yellow, was quickly upgraded to a red card and put Sheffield United down to 10 men. Fortunately, Mitoma escaped without suffering a serious injury. The challenge did leave fans outraged, however, with many taking to social media to voice their anger.

ProjectFootball wrote on X: "Oh my word that's the worst tackle I've seen in a long long time by Mason Holgate 😬"

Another X user, Ibzsmo3k, added: "Mason Holgate you don’t deserve to play again."

User RaffaRants said: "He tried to kill him."

FPLHarry tweeted: "Holgate should be banned for the season. AWFUL, AWFUL TACKLE."

Finally, Brighton fan and X user, Ryanadsett, fumed: "Worst tackle I think I’ve ever seen from Mason Holgate that."

Sports broadcaster Arlo White called out Holgate's professionalism, saying: That’s borderline unprofessional by Mason Holgate. No justification for it whatsoever."

BBC Sport journalist Charlotte Coates said: "You won't find many tackles worse than that Mason Holgate one."

Charles Watts said: "Holgate’s look of astonishment here is something else. Absolute shocker of a tackle."

Today's red card marks Holgate's third in the Premier League since the start of the 2021/22 season and means no player has received more - as per OptaJoe. Brought in in January to shore up the leakiest defence in the league, Holgate has done his team-mates and boss Chris Wilder few favours with an incredibly wild challenge. With the Blades looking increasingly doomed for relegation, Holgate's rashness certainly isn't helping the fight against what feels like an inevitable return to the Championship.

The red card also marks the quickest in the Premier League since Fulham's Nathaniel Chalobah was given his marching orders in the eighth minute against Newcastle in October 2022 - per OptaJoe.

Despite his perplexed look, Holgate can have little complaints about his sending off and the minimum three-game suspension he will receive. He will miss Sheffield United's games against Wolves, Arsenal and Bournemouth.