Illan Meslier

[Victor_OTT_17]

So, no sentimentality on my part as I save that for true Leeds legends like Charlton, Cooper, Reaney, McQueen, Madeley, Cherry, Harvey, Hunter, Yorath, Giles, Bremner, Lorimer, Jones, Jordan and Clarke. Those are names that virtually every English football fan could rhyme off in a few seconds, because they excelled at the top level.

You missed Sprake! All of the players you mentioned said/agreed that Sprake was one of the best goalkeepers they had ever seen...

[White Riot]

You missed Sprake! All of the players you mentioned said/agreed that Sprake was one of the best goalkeepers they had ever seen...

He was for me, but seemed to be much maligned by the media/other club's supporters who only remember the errors he made.

[The Subhuman]

You missed Sprake! All of the players you mentioned said/agreed that Sprake was one of the best goalkeepers they had ever seen...

Yet he was error prone

[Johnthewhite]

Good luck to him Cjay, I'm not the slightest bit sad that he's gone.

How many times was he beaten by the first shot target? And at is his near post? Plus all the flappy bird stuff when the crosses were raining in!

A regular presence in the two seasons before we were relegated from the EPL, during which we conceded 160+ goals!

EPL games played 107
EPL goals conceded 198

So, no sentimentality on my part as I save that for true Leeds legends like Charlton, Cooper, Reaney, McQueen, Madeley, Cherry, Harvey, Hunter, Yorath, Giles, Bremner, Lorimer, Jones, Jordan and Clarke. Those are names that virtually every English football fan could rhyme off in a few seconds, because they excelled at the top level.

Here, Here
Patsy has only been out the building a few weeks and according to some he's turned into prime Gordon Banks overnight. As you say his record tells the real story, the amount of times he left thousands of Leeds fans with their head in their hands, that's before the affect he had on the defence infront of him.
I wish him well, but not sorry to see the back of him.

[Cjay]

Good luck to him Cjay, I'm not the slightest bit sad that he's gone.

How many times was he beaten by the first shot target? And at is his near post? Plus all the flappy bird stuff when the crosses were raining in!

A regular presence in the two seasons before we were relegated from the EPL, during which we conceded 160+ goals!

EPL games played 107
EPL goals conceded 198

So, no sentimentality on my part as I save that for true Leeds legends like Charlton, Cooper, Reaney, McQueen, Madeley, Cherry, Harvey, Hunter, Yorath, Giles, Bremner, Lorimer, Jones, Jordan and Clarke. Those are names that virtually every English football fan could rhyme off in a few seconds, because they excelled at the top level.

Me neither WR

Not sad he left

He was done here

But do think he was extremely badly managed here.

Poor coaching, overexposed.

Is a talented player in him somewhere.

[weasel]

Anyone surprised at this? Shouldn't be. Just because he had a few howlers doesn't make him a bad goalkeeper. We all knew there was a good goalkeeper in him. Farke mismanaged this guy and destroyed his confidence! It would not have been difficult to train his weaknesses into strengths with the right training. I hope he does well...

Not sure why you'd seek to blame Farke. Farke gave him chance after chance despite continued mistakes. I think most of us would have dropped him way before Farke did.

Messlier was poor before Farke came, note how the first thing Allardyce did was to drop him. I think before that mangers were 'encouraged' to keep playing him as he was seen as a potentially valuable asset - and if he was dorpped the price plummets.

Too many people got carried away by him doing okay as a young keeper. There were huge flaws in his game but the general thought was that he'd simply improve with experience and be some world beater. As it was he never improved and if anything got worse.

It is easy to also simply discard the mistakes. But even if you do that there were countless shots that ended up in the back of the net and you'd be thinking, 'should he have done better?'

Perhaps you should apply for the goalkeeping coach job at ER Victor....

[weasel]

A keeper for me has to do the basic rights. You can forgive the odd mistake if they are generally steady. Messlier was never that. I don't think I ever felt comfortable when an opposition player lined up a long shot. That for me is why I liked Darlow, had his limitations but was steady, good handling, made the routine saves look routine.

Similarly Perri gave me Messlier vibes. Fully expected to see routines saves not made, goals going in or the ball not held.

Hopefully if we get the Trafford deal over the line we get a keeper that does all the routine stuff with minimal fuss and also produces a few worldies. If he does that then it is money well spent.

[White Riot]

Me neither WR

Not sad he left

He was done here

But do think he was extremely badly managed here.

Poor coaching, overexposed.

Is a talented player in him somewhere.

I partially agree Cjay, in that Harvey, Sprake, Lukic, Martyn, Seaman, Clemence, Shilton, Schmeichel, etc, had great defences in front of them and weren't trying to play man to man with lesser quality players.

It's kinda comical that DF, bless him , tried to present him as the best goalie in the Championship, when the stats indicated he clearly wasn't, and at a time when we had a superior squad and adopted tactics that would protect him much better than when MB was in town.

I'm not convinced at all that he will morph into being anything other than a liability, but hope he has a successful career.

[1964white]

He was for me, but seemed to be much maligned by the media/other club's supporters who only remember the errors he made.

Sprake was brilliant for much of his Leeds career.

[White Riot]

Sprake was brilliant for much of his Leeds career.

Agreed Leon, but whenever his name was mentioned in the past the media and other club's supporters 100% focused on his gaffs, as though that defined his career.

Ray Clemence let the ball through his legs against Scotland, but he's portrayed as a flawless legend by the media and LFC fans.

Shilton managed to get beaten in the air by the 4 foot high Maradona, and then caught out of position by that fluke Germany free kick in Italia 90.

Seaman beaten by a speculative shot by Ronaldinho in the QF in 2002, from the half-way line. Him and Shilton both failed miserably in the penalty shoot-outs against the Germans, but it was Waddle, Pearce and Southgate who carried the can.

Sprake's error in the Cup Final is what defines him for opposition supporters and the media, but obviously not us. With the lack of live televised football in those days people haven't witnessed the evidence of his career performances as they do now with modern players.

Quite a nice clip of Gary this:

[Victor_OTT_17]

Not sure why you'd seek to blame Farke. Farke gave him chance after chance despite continued mistakes. I think most of us would have dropped him way before Farke did.

Messlier was poor before Farke came, note how the first thing Allardyce did was to drop him. I think before that mangers were 'encouraged' to keep playing him as he was seen as a potentially valuable asset - and if he was dorpped the price plummets.

Too many people got carried away by him doing okay as a young keeper. There were huge flaws in his game but the general thought was that he'd simply improve with experience and be some world beater. As it was he never improved and if anything got worse.

It is easy to also simply discard the mistakes. But even if you do that there were countless shots that ended up in the back of the net and you'd be thinking, 'should he have done better?'

Perhaps you should apply for the goalkeeping coach job at ER Victor....

I was blaming Farke for not pulling him out of the firing line sooner! We were all calling for Meslier to be dropped but Farke left him in much longer. I believe this was massive and once Darlow got the shirt: Meslier was more-or-less done here. If he'd been pulled out sooner, I don't think it would have been career ending (here). It was obvious that Mesleier couldn't cope and he just kept making more mistakes. He needed to be pulled out sooner. I was not discarding Meslier's mistakes btw...

[Victor_OTT_17]

Yet he was error prone

My point being: 2,3 even 5 errors do not define a man! Some of Sprake's mistakes were top-level but he was still an amazing goalkeeper. Go read what the players around him thought about him. Sprake only gets so much flak because he was about to spill the beans on Don Revie's match fixing...

[weasel]

I was blaming Farke for not pulling him out of the firing line sooner! We were all calling for Meslier to be dropped but Farke left him in much longer. I believe this was massive and once Darlow got the shirt: Meslier was more-or-less done here. If he'd been pulled out sooner, I don't think it would have been career ending (here). It was obvious that Mesleier couldn't cope and he just kept making more mistakes. He needed to be pulled out sooner. I was not discarding Meslier's mistakes btw...

One thing I would give Meslier huge praise for is his mental resilience. It wasn't like he'd make mistake after mistake ala Rachubka. He'd bounce back, in the same match, do okay, have a few more okay performances and then another mistake.

I do think the second Farke dropped him then it was basically over, given that Sam Allardyce had dropped him previously for us. I do think there was pressure to play Messlier, realistically a £25m asset gone for free, but it got to the point where Meslier was putting our promotion at risk. If we'd been 20 points clear and Meslier was f*cking up we'd have kept him in to keep his value higher.

[The Subhuman]

My point being: 2,3 even 5 errors do not define a man! Some of Sprake's mistakes were top-level but he was still an amazing goalkeeper. Go read what the players around him thought about him. Sprake only gets so much flak because he was about to spill the beans on Don Revie's match fixing...

I know but it's not me judging Mes, I've said he's a very good keeper. The errors got to him in the end, if you tell someone they're bad long enough they'll get bad.

[White Riot]

I was blaming Farke for not pulling him out of the firing line sooner! We were all calling for Meslier to be dropped but Farke left him in much longer. I believe this was massive and once Darlow got the shirt: Meslier was more-or-less done here. If he'd been pulled out sooner, I don't think it would have been career ending (here). It was obvious that Mesleier couldn't cope and he just kept making more mistakes. He needed to be pulled out sooner. I was not discarding Meslier's mistakes btw...

Not only that Victor, but Leeds United again missed a trick in not selling him when his stock was high.

I believe Newcastle and Spurs showed interest in him, but we misguidedly kept faith in him. Same can be said for Harrison and Bamford. That's a lot of decent cash we missed out on to then watch them walk out the door for nothing.

Successful clubs make a habit of selling players at the right moment and bringing in better. Staying loyal to mediocre players is a bad habit of ours and something that needs stopped if we're looking to progress, Aaronson being a prime example.

[SG90]

Oh dear crying and rose tinted over Meslier of all players. Our fans can be very embarrassing sometimes.

[PhoenixUnited]

Oh dear crying and rose tinted over Meslier of all players. Our fans can be very embarrassing sometimes.

Yeah well there's some that have very short memories and/or have very short attention spans ...........

[weasel]

I know but it's not me judging Mes, I've said he's a very good keeper. The errors got to him in the end, if you tell someone they're bad long enough they'll get bad.

Or if someone plays badly long enough maybe they just ain't that good?