Jeff Stelling claimed that Illan Meslier ‘didn’t deserve’ to be on the losing side during Leeds’ 2-1 defeat to West Ham.
The Sky presenter told Soccer Saturday (25/09/21 at 5:00 pm) that Leeds shot-stopper made ‘a string of absolutely wonderful’ saves for his side.
A number of them occurred during the first half, when Leeds opened the scoring, but he couldn’t do anything about West Ham’s second-half fightback.
It all started with Junior Firpo putting the ball into the back of his own net, before Michail Antonio won the encounter right at the death.
Despite Leeds being winless in their opening six encounters this season, Stelling was full of praise for Meslier and what he produced.
“Leeds look like they are going to be winless,” said Stelling. “They (West Ham) have done it the hard way. They have come from behind.
“And West Ham are having a terrific season. Illan Meslier did not deserve to be on the losing side.
“He made a string of absolutely wonderful saves but there was nothing he could do about, first the own goal and then the Michail Antonio goal.”
There is only so much Meslier can do in between the sticks because his side need to cut down on the number of chances they allow at their goal.
Marcelo Bielsa’s issue isn’t going forward, they have that quality in bucket loads and they will back themselves scoring against most teams.
But there will also be worry from the Leeds fans that they will concede against most teams because that’s the road they are heading down.
Leeds are still searching for that first clean sheet of the season and it would be a real confidence-booster if it comes against Watford next week.
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