"Is he even the best in our squad?" - Leeds United mainstay under fire | OneFootball

We asked our Leeds United fan pundit if there was a player who split the opinion of the fan base at Elland Road.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Leeds United will be fairly pleased with their position in the Championship table during the current international break, although there is one key area of concern among some supporters.

Leeds currently find themselves third in the Championship table, just two points adrift of both Sunderland and Sheffield United in the automatic promotion places, having lost just two of the fifteen league games that they have played so far.

However, following the disappointment of their play-off final defeat against Southampton at the end of last season, anything short of promotion this time around would be viewed as a failure for Daniel Farke and his players.

Therefore, as long as the Whites are not comfortably inside the top two, there will be scrutiny around the team, with fans and pundits alike giving their thoughts on what is needed to ensure the club secures a return to the Premier League as soon as possible.

One talking point that has been prevalent during the early months of the season regards goalkeeper Illan Meslier, with varying opinions among the fan base about whether he is the right man to be Leeds' number one.

Illan Meslier is splitting the opinions of Leeds United supporters

We asked our Leeds United fan pundit, Kris Smith, which player always seems to divide opinion at Elland Road. He explained that Meslier is rated as the best goalkeeper in the division by some supporters, while others feel as though a change in goal could improve Leeds' chances of winning promotion.

"Illan Meslier in goal is a very polarising figure at Leeds, in my opinion, at the moment," said Smith.

"I think half of the people you talk to about him, including Daniel Farke actually, say that he is probably the best goalkeeper in the Championship, and then you have got the other half that are quite the opposite, quite drastic, in terms of he is nowhere near being the best goalkeeper in the league.

"If I were to pick a side, I am definitely of the latter opinion. I think it is quite obvious that he isn't the best goalkeeper in the division and there are a few reasons why I think that and why that is the case.

"He has got the odd world-class save in his locker, and that is fair enough, and his emergence as a starter for Leeds under Marcelo Bielsa, having put in consistently outstanding performances in the Premier League, pulling off remarkable saves and showing his distribution and confidence in goal, was just far beyond his years.

"But, as soon as Leeds as a whole dropped off, when fans returned to grounds in 2021, his form dropped off a cliff, and we are yet to see him return to that sort of level.

"I think the clean sheets he racks up sort of inflates his popularity in the sense of how good he is as well, given that he is always at the top of the league for his clean sheets, but he is backed up by a team in front of him that are just so dominant in every game they play that he is never going to face that many chances.

"When he does face the odd shot on target, he often concedes, and it is always a goal where you are thinking 'the goalkeeper that is the best in the league would be saving that', and he isn't.

"Leeds would be clear at the top of the league for me if we had the best goalkeeper in the league, and it is hard to say who that person is, but when I watch Meslier it does perplex me that Farke can stand by his stance of him being better than anyone else in the division.

"Is he even the best in our squad? I don't think, for certain, that he is."

Nobody has more clean sheets than Illan Meslier in the Championship

Smith alluded to the fact that Meslier's popularity is inflated by his clean sheet record, and the goalkeeper is currently tied for the most in the division, with Sheffield United stopper Michael Cooper the only other 'keeper in the Championship to have kept nine shutouts.

However, when you look at the stats for saves per 90 in the Championship, no goalkeeper has been called into action fewer times than the Frenchman this season, so it is perhaps no surprise that he has kept so many clean sheets.

It would be fair to say that checking who has the most clean sheets is not the right way to determine the best goalkeeper, and considering that Meslier ranks 15th for save percentage and 16th for goals prevented, it is easy to see why Smith feels as though there are better 'keepers in the Championship.