Leeds United can’t admit head injury role after Illan Meslier howler in Sunderland draw
Leeds United wouldn’t be able to admit if Illan Meslier’s error at the end of the draw with Sunderland was a result of a head injury suffered earlier in the game, says Jonny Buchan.
The BBC Leeds journalist insisted on Don’t Go To Bed Just Yet on 7 October that “something strange happened” to the keeper, causing him to allow a harmless looking ball past him in the 97th minute at the Stadium of Light on 4 October, more than it being a lapse of concentration or an awkward bounce.
He dismissed the possibility that an accidental knee to the head from his own defender 25 minutes earlier could have played a role, but admitted the Whites would have to keep it quiet anyway or else admit they had kept a concussed player on the pitch.
Buchan said (6m 55s): “He’s not a terrible keeper that would make that mistake. No-one thought when that was going through to him, ‘Ooop Meslier…’. He’s not Kiko Casilla and the ball’s getting played back to him where you always had a bit of a bomb-scare worry didn’t you? I don’t get that with Illan.
“Therefore that does lead me to think something strange happened to him. Part of it’s probably him taking his eye off it so then he is to blame for it, but then there’s the spin there as well. It’s still his error but something else did occur there.
“What do we think about some people saying he got a bang to the head not long before? Did that have some part to play? The club could never even say that because that would say they allowed a player to play on with concussion, and I don’t think they’d do that anyway.
“So I don’t really buy people saying, ‘What about the bang to the head adding to it?'”
Leeds United keeper injured in clash with Pascal Struijk
Even if Meslier hadn’t capped off a decent all-round performance with one of the worst goalkeeping errors most observers had ever seen questions might have been asked, after Meslier played out the game despite receiving what the BBC Sport live-blog (4 October) termed “prolonged” treatment following a 71st-minute knock from Pascal Struijk.
The defender accidentally kneed the French keeper in the side of the head after being shoved by Wilson Isidor when challenging for a loose ball which Meslier went down to gather.
The Whites number one had generally looked strong on the night prior to that, making a sharp low save which came to nothing before Chris Rigg’s early opener as the rebound was turned in and otherwise putting in an assured performance.
But following the head injury he almost dropped a cross which he was able to gather before the stoppage-time error which stunned everyone.
Unless there is official word from anywhere it is only possible for people to speculate, and it is absolutely no surprise that a howler that inexplicable would be linked to the keeper staying down for a couple of minutes after taking a knee to the head in the minds of many.
It may be a complete coincidence, and Buchan is probably right that the club wouldn’t be able to incriminate their medical department if it was to blame.
But if there was any lingering effect to Meslier that was kept quiet it would do him a great disservice by leaving him to shoulder all the blame.
Plenty of fans would disagree with Buchan’s assessment that the 24-year-old is never a concern since he has had his share of gaffes in the past couple of years, but even by those standards the finish at Sunderland was something else.
In other Leeds United news, there are already injury “alarm bells” going off around a new Whites signing, according to Graham Smyth.
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