It’s been over a week since Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier made a costly mistake that allowed Sunderland to equalize in stoppage time after he misplayed the ball.
As time has passed, pundit Don Goodman recently shared his thoughts on how Meslier and the team have handled the situation, especially given that the error denied them a crucial win against a promotion rival.
The match began with Chris Rigg putting Sunderland ahead in the ninth minute, but Leeds quickly responded, with Joël Piroe scoring the equalizer in the 22nd minute.
The teams went into halftime level at 1-1, and Leeds took the lead in the 56th minute when Junior Firpo scored, putting them in a strong position to secure the win. However, in a dramatic twist during stoppage time, Meslier’s mistake allowed Sunderland to pull level.
Alan Browne’s cross deflected off Firpo’s head, and as Meslier attempted to collect the ball, it slipped through his fingers and into the net, costing Leeds two crucial points.
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While speaking to MOT Leeds News, Goodman noted how the Frenchman dealt with the mishap against the Black Cats. Moreover, it wasn’t ideal that he had over a week to sulk over the mistake due to the FIFA break.
“My heart goes out to Meslier – nobody makes mistakes deliberately,” Goodman told MOT Leeds News. “It’s a massive mistake that cost his side two points, although I don’t think it’ll matter come the end of the season because I expect Leeds to be in the top two. When I asked Daniel Farke how he was doing afterwards, he told me he was not doing well.”
Following that mishap, there were many opinions on the issue, with the BBC’s Jonny Bucha believing it was just a strange situation that led to that game-tying goal.
“He’s not a terrible keeper that would make that mistake,” Buchan stated. ” No one thought when that was going through to him, ‘Ooop Meslier…’. He’s not Kiko Casilla and the ball’s getting played back to him where you always had a bit of a bomb-scare worry didn’t you? I don’t get that with Illan.
“Therefore that does lead me to think something strange happened to him. Part of it’s probably him taking his eye off it so then he is to blame for it, but then there’s the spin there as well.”
