Former Leeds United goalkeeper Paul Robinson believes Sam Allardyce made the right decision in replacing Illan Meslier with Joel Robles.
Speaking on Sky Sports News, Robinson claimed the former England boss has been brought in to make the tough decisions in order to secure Premier League survival.
Meslier – who is reportedly valued at £30 million by Leeds – had started all 34 league matches until Allardyce’s arrival but a string of poor performances saw him lose his place in the side.
Robinson vindicates Allardyce decision to drop Meslier
Joel Robles is the man Allardyce has handed the number one spot to for the final four matches and it is a decision that has so far paid off.
The Spaniard has looked far more assured between the posts for Leeds and given their current predicament, his experience is a necessity if they are to stay up.
Robinson still has huge belief in Meslier to go on and enjoy a superb career, but thinks his confidence was at a point that change was required.
He said: “Listen, Sam’s been brought in for a reason – to do a job – regardless of who he upsets along the way, it doesn’t matter.
“His job and his remit is to keep Leeds United in the Premier League and how he sees fit to do that, he’s got a young goalkeeper in the last 18 months, has been absolutely outstanding barring recent form.
“He’s come to a point in his career where he was in a bit of a rut, he was letting in goals, his confidence was low.
“We talk about Meslier individually, he’s got the potential to be a top-class goalkeeper, [with] his age, his experience, but at the moment where Leeds are in, Sam clearly didn’t think mentally, physically he was right, and he needed a change.
“They could have gone to Manchester City and conceded four or five and that could have changed the dynamic completely – he made a huge decision, he’s worked with Robles before at Everton, so he obviously knew that he’d be able to come in and do a job.
“Robles did well at Manchester City, and like I said, Sam’s been brought in for a reason and he made a decision he thought would help them along the way.”