Farke must brutally ditch Meslier by finally unleashing “unbelievable” ace

Leeds United return to action in the Championship this afternoon as they travel away to take on Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park in the early kick-off.

The Whites head into this match off the back of successive victories against Swansea City and Middlesbrough and they will be looking to make it a hat-trick of wins today.

Daniel Farke’s side are third in the division and can close the gap to Ipswich Town down to four points ahead of their clash with Middlesbrough later in the day.

Leeds beat Boro 3-2 in a dramatic clash last weekend and the German tactician could look to make some changes to his starting XI from that game.

Farke must brutally ditch Illan Meslier as his number one for this match against Blackburn and finally unleash Karl Darlow between the sticks.

The statistics that show why Meslier should be ditched

The French goalkeeper was far from being at his best last time out as the opening goal from Latte Lath went past him at the near post, despite the former Lorient prospect being positioned there.

This was not a rare error from the £30k-per-week stopper as he has conceded a whopping 3.74 more goals than expected based on the xG (Expected Goals) of the shots against him in the Championship this season.

Meslier has only saved 62.7% of the efforts on his goal this term and that currently ranks him within the bottom 15% of goalkeepers in the second tier.

He also ranks within the bottom 37% for defensive actions outside of his penalty area (1.11) per 90, which suggests that the 23-year-old giant has not been a proactive goalkeeper who has been able to sweep in behind his defence.

These statistics show that the Whites dud has underperformed this season, when you consider Leeds are competing for a top two spot, as he has been one of the worst shot-stoppers in the division from a statistical perspective.

The statistics that show why Darlow should replace Meslier

Darlow, whose experience was lauded as “unbelievable” by Farke, is yet to play a Championship match for Leeds but his form for Hull City last season suggests that he has the potential to offer more than Meslier.

The 33-year-old veteran started 12 league games on loan with the Tigers from Newcastle United, before his permanent move to Elland Road over the summer, and caught the eye with a save success rate of 75%.

Across those 12 appearances, Darlow prevented 1.7 goals in comparison to the post-shot xG value of the shots against him. This placed him within the top 18% of Championship goalkeepers with 0.14 post-shot xG prevented per 90.

The former Magpies shot-stopper also ranked within the top 17% of his positional peers for crosses stopped (1.25) per 90, whilst Meslier has stopped 0.74 per 90 so far this season for Leeds.

Therefore, Farke must finally unleash Darlow for his first league start for the club as he could come in as an upgrade on the current number one if he is able to replicate the impressive form that was on display during his loan spell with Hull last term.