Simon Grayson tells Sam Allardyce to axe Illan Meslier after wanting Leeds United job before he was hired
Simon Grayson would have dropped goalkeeper Illan Meslier if he got to the Leeds United job on an interim basis.
The Athletic reported on Thursday (4 May) that the 53-year-old ex-Leeds manager was keen on returning to Elland Road on a short-term basis before the Whites eventually hired Sam Allardyce.
Ironically, while speaking on Allardyce’s No Tippy Tappy Podcast to Big Sam’s replacement Tim Sherwood, Grayson has revealed that he’d have made the big change in goals if he was hired to see out the season.
Grayson, who’s now manager of Bengaluru in India, said: “Somebody asked me what would you do if I was going back. I said I’d drop the goalkeeper straight away. Because he’s young, he’s vulnerable at this moment in time and he’s making too many mistakes.
“Sometimes you’ve got to take them out of the firing line and it might not be everybody’s cup of tea but that’s what I do because I just think he’s vulnerable to making too many errors that are costing the team too many points.
“Also, there are players in front of him making mistakes but sometimes you have to… Sam can’t go in and play the same team because it changes nothing.
“One thing you do when you go in as a caretaker manager or a manager on a short-term contract, you have to implement your own ideas straight away and that might mean making three or four changes at the weekend.”
Big decision for a big man
Allardyce is going to get a bit of a baptism of fire at Leeds this weekend.
His first game in charge of the Whites will be against Manchester City at the Etihad on Saturday (6 May), which is just about the toughest game you could ever ask for in the Premier League.
Big Sam’s got to try and stem the flow of goals that are being conceded and dropping Meslier does seem like a no-brainer of a decision.
But as Grayson says, it’s not just the goalkeeper because Leeds’ defence is completely all over the place too while the central midfield duo of Weston McKennie and Marc Roca do very little to support them.
In Allardyce’s last job at West Brom, he lost his first four home matches without scoring a single goal and conceding a whopping 17 times.
West Brom were definitely a worse team then than Leeds are now but it just goes to show that you cannot wave a magic wand and instantly fix a defence.
He’s not going to do that at Leeds, even if Joel Robles – who’s barely played all season – starts ahead of Meslier.
In other Leeds United news, a £1billion development is now more likely at Elland Road after a “shock” turn of events.