Tim Sherwood blasted Illan Meslier on Amazon Prime for nearly conceding a goal when he was trying to play out from the back during Leeds United’s 5-0 win over West Brom on Tuesday.
With Leeds winning the contest 4-0, the hour mark was approaching and Meslier tried to play a straight ball to his teammate, who was five yards away.
Instead, he played the ball straight into the path of Callum Robinson, who had a free shot on goal, but Meslier did enough to ensure that Leeds didn’t concede.
Whilst watching the match, former Premier League winner Sherwood couldn’t believe what he was seeing from the 20-year-old goalkeeper.
“What on earth is he doing there,” asked Sherwood. “What benefit have you got by playing a straight ball there whilst being closed down. It’s ridiculous.
“He must be bored, I think. He wants to give himself a bit of action. He tidies it up himself in the end. It’s a good save and he palms it away.
“There’s no way he [Bielsa] is telling them to do that. Which manager in their right mind says ‘you know what, you are surrounded by West Brom players just pass the ball four-yards straight in the middle of your goal’. No, Bielsa’s not that stupid.”
Whilst Sherwood feels that Bielsa doesn’t encourage such situations, he does, it’s just a case of ensuring they execute their plans.
In truth, teams who play out from the back will make such mistakes now and again, but it’s case of ensuring they keep it to a minimal and they don’t completely shoot themselves in the foot.
Nonetheless, Leeds won’t be too fussed with that phase of play because they walked away with five goals to their name, a clean sheet and all three points.
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