A horrible sense of déjà vu is beginning to creep into proceedings at Elland Road as another spectacular promotion collapse might well be on the cards for Leeds United.
Last campaign, Daniel Farke’s Whites found themselves in and around the automatic promotion positions for the majority of the hectic season, only for the lottery of the Championship playoffs to slap them in the face come May.
Giving up a last-gasp equaliser to Swansea City on Saturday means Leeds sit precariously in second spot on goal difference, as Illan Meslier’s wobbly demeanour in between the sticks let down the West Yorkshire outfit once more.
Meslier’s performance vs Swansea
The Frenchman, despite keeping a bumper 21 clean sheets in league action this season, has an error in his game waiting to come to the forefront – with three errors leading to goals and one own goal.
This time around versus Alan Sheehan’s visitors, the ex-Lorient shot-stopper added to his growing catalogue of howlers when he inexplicably dropped the ball after a corner was initially dealt with into the path of Harry Darling to fire home.
The error-prone number one was originally deemed a hero before this moment of madness, with this penalty save early on boosting Leeds’ confidence and Meslier’s, but yet another unfortunate mishap helped Swansea return back to Wales with a share of the points.
Of course, the stopper wasn’t the only notable underperformer as Leeds failed to win, with this defender in front of the shaky 25-year-old also struggling at points against one of his former employers.
The Leeds defender who was as bad as Meslier
A number of Farke’s trusted first-team personnel looked ropey coming up against the Swans, with Ethan Ampadu looking notably lethargic in the middle of the park, resulting in his manager hooking him off before the hour mark.
Ampadu’s fellow Welsh compatriot Joe Rodon was also way off his best, with the Swansea-born centre-back giving up that first-half penalty when he rashly clattered into ex-Leeds target Lewis O’Brien.
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Rodon’s performance in numbers |
|
|---|---|
|
Stat |
Rodon |
|
Minutes played |
90 |
|
Touches |
89 |
|
Accurate passes |
62/76 (82%) |
|
Possession lost |
15x |
|
Clearances |
8 |
|
Blocked shots |
0 |
|
Interceptions |
0 |
|
Tackles |
2 |
|
Penalty committed |
1 |
|
Total duels won |
6/9 |
|
Stats by Sofascore |
|
Away from handing Swansea a golden opportunity via a spot-kick, Rodon was also uncharacteristically sloppy with the ball at his feet with possession squandered a costly 15 times during his 90 minutes on the Elland Road turf, on top of 14 of his 76 passes going astray.
Moreover, it wasn’t the most convincing display defensively either in terms of rolling his sleeves up with zero blocked shots or interceptions registered, away from valiantly managing to win six duels, and it was an afternoon to forget for the former Spurs man.
This out-of-sorts showing is unlikely to result in Rodon being dropped from Farke’s XI altogether, considering the Whites number five has started all of his team’s second tier games this season so far, but the Welshman will know any more leaky displays of this manner could cost his high-flying side dear in the automatic promotion battle.
Despite his team slipping up on their own patch, Farke defiantly declared after the 2-2 draw that his side are still 100% on for a return to the Premier League, with Whites fans desperately hoping that the German’s bold words come true.
On this viewing, however, Burnley and Sheffield United will feel confident they can upset the apple cart in West Yorkshire, with Meslier and Co needing to be more robust ahead of some crunch contests to come in the enthralling Championship.
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