Happiness is a warm goalkeeper
Two players stood out among many at the end of United's draw with Liverpool. One for his high profile misery, and one for his surprising, reassuring joy.
There's a lot we can analyse about Daniel Farke's job-saving tactical switching over the last fortnight, about what precisely changed and why it took him so long and how Leeds United will carry on from here. I'm most interested, though, in how much Illan Meslier enjoyed it. And how much Mo Salah didn't.
They make a great contrast at the end of United's 3-3 draw with Liverpool. When Ao Tanaka hit the 94th minute equaliser Meslier was up from his seat not even on the bench but behind the bench, springs in his heels and joy in his heart, and as he threw his spindly frame into the celebrations in the technical area it looked like all the Leeds substitutes clambering on him were trying to drag down one of those inflatable air-dancers you get outside a car wash.
And Mo Salah? After three games on Liverpool's bench he was off to the mixed zone, and who knew Elland Road had a mixed zone? Mo Salah certainly did, and he was off to it to blow his Anfield legacy forever.
It's true that Illan Meslier doesn't have much Elland Road legacy left to blow. But that only makes his joy when Leeds equalised mean more. It's not the first time he's been spotted roaming around the dugouts this season, although previously it was in anger: he was berating the referee in games against Wolves and Spurs for letting bad tackles go against Leeds players. For a player who attracts torrents of unkindness from Leeds fans online, who was glum about being benched at the crucial end of the promotion campaign, who is third choice this season and presumably biding time until he can find a move away, Meslier has looked sincerely and remarkably invested in how Leeds United is doing this season.
And Mo Salah? Loved by Liverpool fans, paid £400,000 a week — when bonuses are added it could be £26m a year — looking forward to international heroics at Afcon and the World Cup, with an even more lucrative future in a Middle Eastern league all but guaranteed whenever he requests it: compared to Illan Meslier, he has very little to worry about. And compared to Illan Meslier, he's acting like a sulky twit.
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