Mason Holgate rues Everton defeat as Leeds United drag Toffees into 'back and forth' encounter

Mason Holgate has revealed his belief that Everton failed to implement Carlo Ancelotti's game plan in Leeds United's 1-0 victory at Goodison Park.

Marcelo Bielsa saw his side claim all three points on Merseyside thanks to a solitary strike from winger Raphinha.

The encounter saw both teams exchange blows in a game with a combined 38 attempts on goal.

Everton had the ball in the back of the net on two occasions but saw the offside flag deny them while Patrick Bamford also had a goal chalked off.

Goalkeepers Jordan Pickford and Illan Meslier were called into action to produce a number of impressive saves to keep the scoreline level throughout.

Jack Harrison also hit the woodwork with a header before United's summer deadline day signing finally broke the deadlock with a brilliant effort as the clock ticked down.

It was the Whites' first win in four Premier League outings, and their first league win at Everton since 1990.

Stand in home skipper Holgate rued his sides inability to convert in front of goal, admitting he and his team-mates were dragged into an open affair.

“There’s lots of different things [we could have done differently],” he admitted post-match.

“The main one being on the ball, not pushing things as much as we did. Obviously, we know what kind of game they like to play, which is man-to-man, intensive, back and forth.

“We know the way we wanted to play and ultimately we didn’t do that. It felt like we got involved in a game of you attack, we attack.

“The intensity they made the game... as soon as we got the ball, we felt we had to go forward as fast as we could as well. That led to it being back and forth, back and forth.

“When it’s like that, it makes it into a 50/50 game.

“They got the goal in the end, and that’s won them the game. On a different day, we could have nicked that and we could be talking like it’s a good result.

“It’s disappointing but all we can do is regroup and get ready to go again.”