Leeds United goalkeeper Ilan Meslier has revealed how a conversation with a Premier League rival clued him into the fact that his height is a counter-intuitive drawback when it comes to trying to save penalties.
The 6’5” stopper does not boast an impressive record when the opposition step up to the penalty spot, but he believes he has been at a disadvantage because so few players have stuck to their usual routines in the face of his rangy frame.
It’s common practice these days for goalkeepers to do extensive research on where opposition penalty takers usually look to place the ball (not that it stops some people from reacting to it like it’s an act of unprecedented genius whenever it pays off, as some sections of the media did after Jordan Pickford’s penalty save against Leicester), but Meslier has found his own efforts on that front to be in vain.
He told the France Football Federation website: “In my first season in the Premier League, we conceded nine penalties. I saved one, but the attacker managed to score on the rebound (Jesse Lingard for West Ham in March 2021). However, it is an exercise that I like and on which I have always been rather comfortable.
Read more: Who is Viktor Johansson? The Rotherham United goalkeeper linked with Leeds United
“But in England, no matter how much I analysed the preferential sides of the players before my matches, they systematically changed in front of me! One day after a game, I asked an opponent why he hadn't shot where he was used to, and he revealed to me that I was too tall and so he had opted to power it down the middle . My size can therefore sometimes be a disadvantage apparently ”.
Meslier is one of a cluster of players to have been linked with a move away from Elland Road this summer following United’s relegation to the Championship.
