Leeds United's six-game unbeaten run in the Championship came to an end this weekend as they were beaten 3-1 by Southampton on Saturday.
The Whites had lost the match before half-time as Russell Martin's side ran riot with three goals inside the opening 35 minutes at St. Mary's.
Pascal Struijk's second half strike was nothing but a mere consolation as the Yorkshire-based side failed to mount a serious comeback before full-time.
How did Illan Meslier perform against Southampton?
One of the standout performers for Leeds, for the wrong reasons, was French goalkeeper Illan Meslier as he put in a poor display between the sticks.
The Whites number one was beaten far too easily for the opening goal as he came out to close down Adam Armstrong from an incredibly tight angle and allowed the forward to dink the ball over him instead of standing up, which would have left the attacker with almost nowhere to squeeze it in.
He had little chance with Will Smallbone's well-placed finish for the second goal but was questionable again for the third strike from the Saints as Armstrong's shot from a similar position to the first bounced over his knee and into the far corner.
Meslier ended the match with two saves out of five shots against him and received the lowest Sofascore rating in the game – for either side – with a score of 6.3.
Should Illan Meslier be dropped?
Daniel Farke must now brutally ditch the Leeds number one from the starting line-up as he has been a liability for the club since the start of last season, with the Southampton match being the latest no-show.
The £30k-per-week gloveman, who was branded a "massive liability" by journalist David Kent last term, endured a terrible 2022/23 campaign in the Premier League as he consistently let in shots that the average goalkeeper would have been expected to keep out.
As per FBref, Meslier conceded a whopping 12.4 more goals than expected goals suggested the average goalkeeper would have conceded. This essentially means that the Frenchman significantly underperformed as a shot-stopper and allowed too many poor-quality efforts to fly into his net.
The former Lorient giant, who made three errors that directly led to goals last season, has started all nine of the club's Championship matches this term and has, so far, conceded 0.5 more than would normally be expected.
That may not be quite as large as last term yet, but Leeds do have a goalkeeper on their bench who caught the eye with his performances on loan with Hull City at this level during the 2022/23 campaign.
Karl Darlow impressed for the Tigers as he saved 1.7 more goals than expected across 12 Championship appearances on loan from Newcastle United.
The 32-year-old saved 71% of the efforts on his goal, showcasing his ability to be an above-average shot-stopper in the second tier.
Whereas, Meslier has a save success rate of 66.7% over the last 365 days, which places him in the bottom 14% of his positional peers across leagues most similar to the Championship.
Therefore, Farke could improve his team by dropping the 23-year-old from the starting XI and unleashing Darlow for his full league debut, due to the Englishman's superior shot-stopping ability.