Joel Robles has been praised for his performance as Leeds United proved a bit of a point in their clash with Manchester City on Saturday.
BBC Radio Leeds pundit Jon Newsome has praised the goalkeeper after Leeds suffered a 2-1 loss at the Etihad Stadium in Sam Allardyce’s first game in charge.
Of course, Manchester City could have found another gear at any time for much of the game. But Leeds gave the home side a bit of a scare with a late goal. And it was encouraging to see Pep Guardiola’s men look to keep the ball in the corner in the final stages.
Joel Robles praised after Leeds lose at Manchester City
It is certainly a positive start to Allardyce’s tenure. And one of the changes he was vindicated for was bringing Joel Robles in ahead of Illan Meslier.
Meslier, unfortunately, had been really struggling in the final stages of Javi Gracia’s spell in charge. And Allardyce has previously worked with Joel. So it was not a huge surprise to see the 32-year-old make his Premier League debut for Leeds on Saturday.
He did concede twice. But he looked steady in goal, making a number of decent saves. And he could not have done much about the two goals Manchester City did score.
Certainly, Jon Newsome felt that he did not let himself down after being promoted into the team.
“You’ve got to give the Leeds lads as much praise, as many plaudits as you can because they stayed in the game. I think Robles had a really good game in the net. I thought the keeper did well all game,” he told BBC Radio Leeds.
It was a gamble to bring Joel in for the clash. Obviously, Meslier’s confidence appeared to be at rock bottom. But there would have been a fear that Joel’s confidence would head a similar way if he was forced to pick the ball out of his net five or six times.
Thankfully, that was not the case. It is another defeat. But it was a performance Leeds can be content with ahead of the massive fixtures still to come.
You would imagine that Joel has ensured that he will be the man between the sticks for those.