Phil Hay shares Sam Allardyce stance on Illan Meslier starting position ahead of Leeds United v Manchester City
Sam Allardyce has admitted that he could axe Illan Meslier from the Leeds United starting lineup to face Manchester City in his first game in charge.
Allardyce was confirmed as the new manager for the final four games of the season, with the club sitting outside the relegation zone on goal difference alone.
The team conceded 23 goals in April with goalkeeper Meslier coming under heavy criticism, and Allardyce admitted in his first press conference as boss that he will speak to the young Frenchman and make a decision on his position before the game.
“Allardyce is going to speak to Meslier to decide whether he’ll stay as number one,” Phil Hay wrote on his personal Twitter account (3 May) live from the press conference.
“Says it’s obvious that Meslier has made mistakes.
‘Whether it’s right to keep him in and hope he gets back to what he can be, we’ll wait and see. Make that decision on Friday, probably.”
Decisions, decisions
There is no doubting that when everyone is at their best Meslier is by far and away the best goalkeeper at the club.
But the issue quite clearly is that Meslier is very far away from his best right now, and that means that Joel Robles or even Kristoffer Klaesson could be better options.
With four games to go we simply cannot avoid to make more mistakes that lead to us dropping points, and against the best attack and striker in the league on Saturday we’ll really be tested.
Allardyce has a huge decision to make when stepping in, and it could legitimately make or break his short-tenure because he has such a limited window to work in.
Ideally Meslier gets back to his best level in training this week and goes into the game full of confidence and turns in the type of performance we know he can.
But nobody can complain too much if he gets dropped because of his recent form, and we’ll be hoping whoever steps into his spot can step up to the level needed.
In other Leeds news, Angus Kinnear has convinced another coach to join the club after a 9am phone call.