This week has been demanding, and it ended disastrously.
Here are our four talking points from Leeds United’s Championship match against Sunderland, which ended in a 2-2 draw at Stadium of Light. The visitors saw an eventual win converted into a draw due to a late error by Illan Meslier. To begin, may I ask you which are the two most agonisingly missed points this season?
It was one of those times when everything appeared to stop. You look to the referee for a comforting whistle because you don’t think what you’re seeing. Surely the 212-year-old goalie with hopes of playing for France did not let an uncontested ball bounce past him and into his goal?
Although there hasn’t been a discernible shift in the ball’s path in mainstream replays, Meslier and Pascal Struijk have both stated that’s the reason the goal was scored. The vice captain was entirely eluded by the ball after it took an unusual bounce off the turf.
It appears that Meslier had no intention of letting that ball in, but whatever of the fault assigned, there is no disputing the suffering it inflicted. After a brutal week on the mental and physical front, Leeds United deserved to go home with three points, as seen by the players’ responses.
Only Leeds could face three games in six days, manage to pull off a draw at the end of that adversity, lose their captain, who had led the team in all thirty-nine league games, to a 10-week knee injury layoff, and then lose their midfield partner, who had started 29 of the previous 31 league lineups, to a months-long knee injury layoff three days later.
The Whites, the league leaders with a spotless home record into this game, had put on such an amazing display at Sunderland. It makes sense that Leeds struggled early on as they figured out how to coordinate their attack-minded axis in the engine room.
They persevered through that challenging beginning, which featured a concession, and settled into a rhythm with two goals before putting in a strong performance to secure what should have been a historic victory at the conclusion of a cruel week. If they had hung on, the Whites would have drawn even with Sunderland at the top of the league.
It will take a long time to recover from this error, and all you can hope for is if Meslier can salvage a couple more Leeds victories between now and May of next year. God forbid Leeds fall two points shy of automatic promotion.
Meslier must recover.
Don’t expect a Karl Darlow introduction just yet; Farke doesn’t appear to be the kind to bench Meslier after just one play, but the custodian from Newcastle United was brought in to put pressure on the Frenchman.
If Meslier and Struijk are correct, this is an unusual incident that should relieve the goalie’s pressure, at least for a few days until the feelings have subsided.
The goalie himself will also have to give up to a state of relaxation. Meslier must rise above this inquest, since it is not the first and won’t be the last. Goalkeepers who don’t have a very thick skin and the capacity to learn from their mistakes seldom make it to Europe’s top leagues.
Read more at: https://sportupdates.co.uk
Leave a Reply