David Moyes awestruck by ‘Outstanding’ Leeds talent in West Ham clash
David Moyes has claimed that Illan Meslier kept Leeds United in the game in the 2-1 defeat against West Ham on Friday evening.
After going ahead early through Mateusz Klich, the Whites deserved to lose and did after goals from Tomas Soucek and Angelo Ogbonna.
Moyes claimed that Meslier was “outstanding” and was the only reason why the Hammers didn’t end up scoring more at Elland Road.
Moyes claimed Leeds will cause teams plenty of problems in the Premier League, but that his side should have likely have scored more in West Yorkshire.
“We had periods where we had big chances,” he told the BBC.
“Their young keeper was outstanding tonight and kept them in the game. To come to Leeds and get a result is really good.”
It is hard to criticise Meslier, but he did make the single mistake when easily allowing a tame Soucek header straight through his grasp in the first-half.
After that initial mistake, he was superb.
The two saves from Fabian Balbuena’s header and Sebastien Hallers’ bicycle kick were phenomenal, and he showed real maturity when his defence kept letting him down.
According to WyScout, four of his five saves were reflex saves – mainly from deliveries into the box. Once again, he also only failed with one of his 33 attempted passes.
Meslier is growing with confidence in every game, and it would be a massive help if his defence weren’t becoming more and more dreadful at defending set-pieces every single week.
In other Leeds United news, Beckford and Green slam Whites mainstay v West Ham
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