Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United grabbed a much-needed Championship point at Griffin Park – no thanks to goalkeeper Kiko Casilla.
Kiko Casilla apologised to his Leeds United team-mates after another horrific mistake in Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at promotion rivals Brentford, Kalvin Phillips has revealed to LUTV.
All eyes were firmly fixed on an under-fire goalkeeper when Marcelo Bielsa’s out-of-sorts Whites headed to Griffin Park in midweek with their place in the automatic promotion positions on the line.
So the last thing Casilla needed was to gift Brentford the easiest of openers in the first half, allowing a simple back pass to bounce out of his control and straight into the path of a grateful Said Benrahma.
Leeds recovered to grab a deserved point through captain Liam Cooper, but a much-improved display has been overshadowed by yet another mistake from their increasingly error-prone custodian.
“I’m obviously very gutted for Kiko but it’s a mistake that he can’t really make,” Phillips, who returned from suspension with a typically inspired performance in West London, told LUTV.
“He knows that, we’ve told him and he’s apologised for that. That’s football and it happens. We were on top at the start and all throughout the game we were on top so very proud of the lads for putting in a good performance.”
Calls for Lorient loanee Ilan Meslier to replace Casilla as Leeds’ number one are growing louder by the game. The 19-year-old looked solid and confident during his one and only appearance for The Whites’ first-team, after all, stepping up to the plate in the FA Cup defeat against Arsenal in January.
But, in Bielsa, Leeds have one of the most stubborn tacticians in the game. If he refused to drop the much-maligned Patrick Bamford with Eddie Nketiah, what are the chances of a former Real Madrid ‘keeper losing his place to an unproven teen?
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