Mark Lawrenson predicts Leeds United clash v Fulham, shares Illan Meslier verdict
Mark Lawrenson admits Leeds United should be worried by Illan Meslier but has predicted them to claim a scrappy draw against Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday [22 April].
After tasting a much-needed upturn in form winning two of their previous three games, the Whites suffered damaging back-to-back 5-1 and 6-1 defeats to Crystal Palace and Liverpool respectively, leaving them floating just above the drop zone by two points.
Javi Gracia’s men will be aiming to correct those wrongs when they travel to West London on Saturday and former Liverpool defender Lawrenson believes goalkeeper Meslier looks like a “rabbit caught in the headlights”.
Providing his Premier League predictions in his Paddy Power column [21 April], he said:
“Fulham won at Everton quite comfortably last time and Leeds were thumped by Liverpool. It’s the way they’re conceding. I know Liverpool’s goals in general were really, really good but the door was never closed, was it?
“I’m not blaming him but Illan Meslier looks like a rabbit caught in the headlights at the moment.
“But, actually, I’m going to go for a draw here because the one thing about Leeds is they scrap. Fulham 1-1 Leeds United.”
Blame defence
All the criticism of Meslier over the past week has been quite damning, especially Jamie Carragher’s embarrassing “kid” admission regarding the French Under-21 goalkeeper.
Certainly, despite all the interest in his services of late, he has failed to convince even himself that he’s ready for a big move as he’s regularly caught out in no man’s land or indeed like a rabbit caught in a headlight.
However, much of the blame should not be placed on him but on the midfielders and defenders in front of him. They were absolutely dreadful against Liverpool allowing the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Curtis Jones the freedom of Elland Road to pick out passes at a premium.
It was embarrassing and the kind of performance that deserves to be on the end of a sorry relegation back down to the Championship. Javi Gracia knows his side cannot defend like that again, but do his players know the errors of their ways? Because, it’s a worrying recurring theme, as we saw against Crystal Palace a week earlier too.
If the Whites are to arrest their worrying slide down to the relegation zone, they’ve got to perform as a cohesive and organised unit, not the shambolic mess we’ve become so accustomed to for much of the campaign.
A hugely important fixture on Saturday.
In other Leeds United news, here’s what our exclusive pundit had to say on the Jean-Kevin Augustin saga at Elland Road.