Kiko Casilla is coming under fire for his error in Leeds United’s latest defeat.
Marcelo Bielsa has moved to defend under-fire goalkeeper Kiko Casilla, suggesting that Leeds United players aren’t good enough at heading the ball for the most part.
Casilla came in for criticism for his role in Wigan’s winner in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat by the Latics at Elland Road.
Leeds playmaker Pablo Hernandez bundled the ball into his own net after the 33-year-old keeper ventured off his line to claim a corner, but failed to get it.
Fans of the West Yorkshire side slated Casilla on Twitter directly after the game, but Bielsa says that it isn’t easy being a goalkeeper for the Whites.
The veteran coach argues that centre-back Liam Cooper is the only player who is ‘very good’ at heading the ball.
He said to Leeds Live: “It is not easy to be a keeper in a team like Leeds. We don’t have good defensive aerial play. Liam is a very good header. We have good headers, but Liam is the only who is very good. In English football you have very good aerial players. That is a problem.”
Casilla, who joined Leeds last January, has been a stellar goalkeeper for the most part, but there have been some major errors, including the playoff semi-final defeat by Derby County last season.
The former Real Madrid stopper isn’t quite error prone, because that intimates that he’s just a Spanish version of Felix Wiedwald, but he definitely has a gaffe in him.
Judgement is so important for a goalkeeper, but so is confidence and Leeds fans should be hoping that he isn’t going into the next few games low on it.
United, who have lost three of their last four games, have a three-point cushion in the automatic promotion places, but we’ve seen recently how quick things can change in the Championship.
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