Farke has supported Meslier after every mistake: Leeds will judge him on what he does after

Paraagra Marathhe was sitting alone in the front row of the Elland Road’s directorate box while the stadium emptied around him on Saturday afternoon. While the Vips filtered in the suite under the stand, the member of the Council Peter Lowy was analyzing his phone, the Operational Director Morrie Eisenberg provisionally made a comment in the ear of Marathhe and the president walked on the other side of the box. He wanted solitude, being alone with his thoughts.

The draw of the last leeds united vagabond with Swansea City was stewing, elaborating what those two abandoned points could mean. MaraThe may have asked himself if there was something he could have done, up to this point, to see Leeds in a stronger position with seven games to play. His, Daniel Farke and most of the minds of the fan base, will surely return to January.

It was January 4th when Leeds returned home from Hull City, where Illan Meslier had an important hand in all three concessions of a 3-3 draw. Farke has faced more questions than ever in the following week on the position of his goalkeeper in the team. The manager had been next to the strongest possible terms, privately and publicly.

Inevitably, especially during a transfer window, they were conversations between Factke and Marather on Meslier. “How serious is a problem?”, “Will the difference between promotion and bankruptcy?”, “Can we help you get a new cap in the transfers market?”

Those conversations could have been the place where Marathhe’s mind wandered while fixing on the field on Saturday.

The championship fields will always generate heroes and bad ones. If you signal a clinch goal or save a penalty and get your team get up, you will have painted murals from you. If you mark a goal or you are invoked, you lose the fan base. In football, rightly or mistakenly, it is so in black and white.

We saw the perfect example in Saturday’s match in Elland Road. Meslier and Brenden Aaronson saw, widely, their stocks on the terraces descend a lot below where they would like it to be. Each of them had moments to rejoice since August, but their incoherent errors and final product are what they have become associated with.

Within 15 minutes from the start of Saturday, this had all the distinctive features of their redemption, a rare day in the sun for them both before the watches went on. Aaronson, the villain two weeks ago at the Queens Park Rangers, has maintained his place in the starting training after the injury of Wilfried Gnunto on the international service.

Within 40 seconds from the kick -off, he indicated his temple as he moved away from the fundamental product in a scramble of Goalmouth that Swansea could not erase. He had to be him, the man that most of the supporters wanted to fall, a hero of the hour. It is the writing of the narrative.

So it was Meslier’s turn. Joe Rodon made a rare mistake in cinging Lewis O’Brien unnecessarily for a 6th minute kick. It was the goalkeeper’s turn to reimburse one of the many favors that Rodon had done it.

The Frenchman lowered himself to his left and denied Josh Tymon. It was the first penalty he had saved from March 2021, when he stopped Jesse Lingard at West Ham United but he could not block his buried rebound. After a season of points, let it fall on the shoulders, this was a moment that Meslier had craved. A bad hero.

Around these companies late, Leeds did not play well. The stench of the international break opened. Ethan AMPADU, a show for the painful eyes in the starting formation, was usually high -level miles after several weeks on the margin. Daniel James, Manor Solomon and Joel Piroe failed to do much in the last third.

Meslier and Aaronson seemed the exceptions to the rule. For once, they were writing in the folklore of 2024-25 as the main producers of differences in a sad day for the team. Still, football is cruel. Predictable, a fan of Leeds could say. The dichotomy at the center of this subtle difference between heroism and evil could not have been better summarized by Meslier.

At one time he made another fabulous rescue, denying Ronald’s face on a crowd of bodies, paranching him for a corner. In the next, he dropped the corner to his feet in the penalty box for Harry Darling to slip into a 64 -minute draw. All his hard work, his heroism, had been canceled in a flash.

Meslier has enjoyed Farke’s support throughout the season (Martin Ricktt/PA images via Getty Images)

And yet another hero in this story? There was time. It was supposed to be GNONTO. The flavor of the month that everyone had desired for the international break, Aaronson’s alternative. It was launched at 1-1 and marked within 60 seconds. This was to be the title, the happy ending, the setting of an evident sequel that starts it in Luton Town this Saturday.

What remained there was a villain waiting to be put out of his misery and a manager who risks following his goalkeeper along that road. The first concession was worse than the second, but Zan Vipotnik’s shot had to be stopped. He had an expected goal on the value of the target (xgot) of 0.03. This means that the striker’s effort should hit the network three times every 100 attempts.

After what happened in Sunderland and Hull, among the various other mistakes during the season, there should be only one decision for Factke to make in Kenilworth Road. Karl Dellow is a 34 -year -old goalkeeper with 154 championship appearances in his name, also 52 in the Premier League, and was taken to Leeds in 2023 to challenge Meslier.

Regardless of what the coach of Farke and the goalkeeper and WooTten saw in training since July 2023, Meslier’s trust must be made to pieces, as well as the faith of his defense in him. At a certain point, the morality of the twenty -five year old must begin to influence the door ability that the manager feels he has. Dellow cannot be a big step back in this phase.

Will Farke launch himself like the hero or the bad ending in this story? If it is again from Meslier and the club cannot win the promotion with the best team of the championship, it will be remembered as a stubborn failure. Even starting Dellow will not automatically make him a hero, but these are the decisions that will decide his place in the history of Leeds.

(Photo above: Pat Scaasi | Mi News/Nurphoto via Getty Images)