‘Horrible’ – Illan Meslier slaughtered for what he did during Leeds vs Newcastle
Leeds United goalkeeper Illan Meslier was slaughtered for his ‘horrible’ goalkeeping in the 1-0 defeat to Newcastle on Saturday.
The Whites saw their two-game winning run ended thanks to a second-half Jonjo Shelvey free-kick as Newcastle picked up just their second win of the season in the Premier League.
The goal saw Shelvey strike a free-kick low towards the side of the goal Meslier was guarding, but the French stopper got two hands to it and still couldn’t prevent the ball from nestling in the corner.
While on commentary for the game on BBC Match of the Day, Steve Wilson branded his attempts to save it as ‘horrible’ and claimed there was ‘no way’ the ball should’ve ended up in the net.
“It’s a horrible, horrible piece of goalkeeping by Meslier. There is no way Meslier should be beaten by this,” Wilson said.
The defeat leaves Leeds seven points above the relegation zone, but they have played more games than Burnley, Watford and Everton who remain below them in the table.
Poor
While Meslier has received praise in the past for his performances and shot-stopping, this was really poor from him.
If you get wrong-footed then fair enough, it happens, but to be on that side of the goal and get two hands to the ball and still allow it to creep past you is simply criminal.
It was a good performance all-in-all from Leeds who probably deserved something from the game on the balance of play, but Meslier’s error has cost them points now.
At this level and in the situation that they’re in, that’s something that you can’t afford to do regularly if you want to stay in the division and Meslier needs to cut these needless errors out of his game.
He’s still young and has plenty of time and room to improve, but Leeds need him to step up quickly to help them stave off the threat of relegation.
In other Leeds news, Reliable journalist shares if Leeds have made ‘final’ Aaronson bid with likely outcome dropped