Jamie Carragher issues brutal verdict on Illan Meslier and Leeds United defence after Liverpool defeat

Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher has slammed Leeds United goalkeeper Illan Meslier and the Whites defence following Monday night’s defeat to Liverpool.

Leeds fell to a 6-1 defeat to the Reds at Elland Road on Monday evening, becoming the worst defence in the Premier League so far this season in the process. Aside from the goal difference, the defeat doesn’t hurt the Whites all that much in so far as the teams below them lost over the weekend.

But it does hurt their confidence, and the heavy defeat does serve as a reminder of a familiar problem for Leeds - the back-line.

That’s something Carragher addressed in a brutal dissection of Leeds’ biggest problem while speaking in the Sky Sports studio after the game.

“This Leeds team...they’ve had three different managers in a short space of time, and they are still where they are,” said Carragher. “Those goals tonight mean they are the worst team defensively in terms of goals conceded. Gracia has come in, they have had Jesse Marsch, Bielsa...they have got really poor defenders. Really poor.

“I've never been convinced by the goalkeeper. I know he is a young player and I know Bielsa brought him up from the Championship, and he was a young player then, maybe 20, and he was good on the ball. But he has no presence, and it looks like you have a kid in goal. I've always felt that, but I thought maybe he is young. I've never been convinced with him at all, and when I see the defenders they have go, individually, they are really, really poor.

“They make big mistakes every time you see them play. There was obviously talk with the first goal whether it was handball, possibly they have a case there, but what Firpo does, that's what Leeds should be looking at. Don't be complaining about handball, look at what he is doing. Some of the movement, you make mistakes in defence, me and Ben (Mee, a guest in the studio) have, that's part of the game, but this has consistently happened week after week, season after season and with different managers.”