Journalist Graham Smyth has slammed Leeds United goalkeeper Illan Meslier for his display in the club’s most recent loss.
In their last Premier League outing, the Whites fell to a 2-1 defeat against Arsenal away from home. Eddie Nketiah scored twice early on, before Luke Ayling then picked up a red card before the halftime whistle.
In the end, Diego Llorente managed to net a consolation but it wasn’t enough to see Leeds come away from the game with any points to add to the league table.
The tone of the defeat, however, was set by Meslier who dwelled on the ball too long for the opening goal. Indeed, Nketiah managed to charge the Frenchman down and simply tackle the ball into the back of the net to give the Gunners a lead they wouldn’t surrender.
Has Illan Meslier been good enough for Leeds this season?
Yes
No
In his player ratings for the Yorkshire Evening Post, Smyth slammed the 22-year-old. He wrote: “Culpable for the first with a dreadful error. Looked shaky for a few set-pieces and distribution even before the red wasn’t great.”
TIF thoughts on Illan Meslier and Leeds…
It was certainly a day to forget for the Leeds shot-stopper who was confirmed to have made one error that led to goal by SofaScore, while also completing just 16 out of 29 of his passes (55%).
With that in mind, it’s easy to see why Smyth labelled the player as ‘culpable’ in the loss and made note of his poor distribution on the day.
Because of the loss, Leeds now sit inside the relegation zone with just three games left to save their season. They are level on points with Burnley who sit above the bottom three but have a worse goal difference.
With things so tight at the bottom of the Premier League, Meslier mistake in this game could be a deciding factor in the club’s fate – no doubt, he’ll hope to redeem himself in the coming weeks.
In other news: Big message: Leeds outcast sends Marsch reminder amid injury update – opinion