I've seen Leeds United man suffer this season but what he did vs Coventry City was absolutely incredible — YEP 6/2/25
By Kyle Newbould
Leeds United’s under-fire goalkeeper man enjoyed a good
night during Wednesday’s win at Coventry City.
Stuart Dallas heaped praise on former Leeds United teammate
Illan Meslier for pulling off two ‘incredible’ saves against Coventry City.
Leeds extended their unbeaten league run to 13 games with a
commanding 2-0 win at Coventry on Wednesday evening. First-half goals from Joel
Piroe and Jayden Bogle set the Whites on their way to victory, and the
frequency of gilt-edged chances would suggest it could easily have been more.
Daniel Farke’s side could have been made to rue those
mistakes just before the hour mark when Ellis Simms directed a brilliant header
towards the bottom corner, but Meslier got down to claw it away with an
exceptional save. And the Whites goalkeeper was on hand again to tip a
point-blank Sky Blues header onto the crossbar later on.
“Another clean sheet, two huge saves from Illan,” Dallas
told LUTV in the aftermath of Wednesday’s win. “He didn’t have much to do other
than the two, but it just shows that you’ve got to stay focused in the big
moments.
“The first save is absolutely incredible. Let’s give him the
credit he is due because he suffered after those mistakes, that’s for sure, he
came in for a lot of criticism. But those saves, incredible. Save of the
season.
“No matter what happens, there will still be a microscope on
him because of the magnitude of his recent mistakes, but that tonight certainly
shows his quality. Daniel Farke will be pleased because he’s shown a lot of
faith in him, and Illan has repaid him tonight.”
Meslier and Leeds have now kept five straight league clean
sheets and Coventry was arguably the first of those games in which he was
seriously tested. The defence in front of him has done an incredible job
protecting things and Bogle has been a constant part of that.
The right-back has received much more praise for his
attacking exploits this season, however, and scored Leeds’ second at the CBS
Arena with a mazy run. That’s four for the season now and having played
full-back in his career, Dallas acknowledged the threat coming from that right
side.
“He's doing fantastically well,” Dallas added of the
£5million summer arrival. “You've got to have certain skills to get into those
positions - I was never really good enough to get there. He's getting stronger
every week, the connection with him, Dan [James], and Brenden [Aaronson] - Dan
spoke as well about how Joe [Rodon] starts it all off.