Illan Meslier
Leeds United’s Stuart Dallas reserved special praise for teammate Illan Meslier after the goalkeeper made a crucial save in the dying embers against Norwich City.
Stuart Dallas said: “Even when we’ve scored to go 2-1 up, we’ve got to credit Illan at the end of the game. He’s maybe come under criticism for goals that we’ve conceded this year and he’s been a bit hard on himself because obviously he’s the goalkeeper, but he’s saved that one with his head at the end. That could have been 2-2 and it could have been a different feeling. That emotion at the end, this is why you play football, for moments like this. Hopefully we can use that to build on now. We’ve another huge game away at Wolves on Friday night and it would be nice to get a result there going into the international break.”
Amidst the joy inside Elland Road following the full-time whistle was relief, as the win put an end to a miserable run of six consecutive league defeats. It also marked the first victory under head coach Jesse Marsch, after Marcelo Bielsa’s heir oversaw defeats to Leicester City and Aston Villa. However, there were shades of Bielsa’s Leeds in the dramatic manner of the victory, as Kenny McLean’s stoppage-time equaliser threatened to put a dampener on the afternoon.
Stuart Dallas said: “It wouldn’t be us if we didn’t make things hard for yourselves, would it? [We are] delighted with the win. I think you can see the emotion at the end there. Of course, it’s only three points but you know this was a very very important game for us today. We’ve managed to get the win and now we’ve got to try and build on it. We know we’ve been below the standards we’ve set in previous years this season for whatever reason. But that’s a step forward for us today. I think if we hadn’t have got something from that we’d have been really, really disappointed because of the chances we missed, then you leave yourself open when there’s only one goal in it and you leave yourself open to something, and then they’ve scored a good goal. [It’s] disappointing for us how we conceded it, but I think it showed the mentality in this group to go up the other end and this man got on the end of one. It’s one more of relief I think.”
