Goalkeeping heritage

As a former goalkeeper, I felt for Illan Meslier at Sunderland. Admittedly, part of that feeling was frustration and the desire to throw some sort of lanky-based insult his way, but there was some sympathy too. Honest.

It’s the curse of the keeper that, when we make a mistake, it tends to lead to disaster. Midfielders can misplace a pass, strikers can waste a chance, defenders can stumble, but if a keeper fails to catch the ball, it’s likely going to end up in the net. Meslier’s mistake was, undoubtedly, a stinker — somehow conspiring to make his body as thin as a bamboo stick as the ball spun off the ground, but he can at least take solace in the fact that he is not the only Leeds keeper to make a horrendous error. Just the most recent one.

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