Noel Whelan admits Kiko Casilla can be liability for Leeds

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Noel Whelan has told BBC Radio Leeds (broadcast on 28/9 from 17:00) that Kiko Casilla is a liability for Leeds United following their 1-0 defeat to Charlton Athletic on Saturday.

The Whites are down in fourth in the Championship after suffering their first away defeat of the season at the Valley. The game’s only goal came during the first-half when the Addicks won a corner.

Charlton managed to get a shot away near the penalty spot, and it looked set to be a fairly simple save for Casilla. However, the Spaniard parried the ball onto Macauley Bonne as the striker attempted to deflect Tom Lockyer’s initial attempt.

It was a major error from Casilla, who had silenced a lot of his critics at the start of this season. And Whelan suggested after the game that Leeds were going to struggle to rely on the former Real Madrid man – before somewhat defending the stopper.

“Of course he’s a liability at times,” he told BBC Radio Leeds. “But there’s no goalkeeper in the Championship that’s not going to make mistakes, or in the Premier League.”

TBR’s View

Admittedly, it may be letting Casilla off the hook too easily, but perhaps there is an argument to suggest Bonne’s movement influenced his decision to parry the ball.

He may have been anticipating that he could need to do his best to win the ball first, or ensure that he is as close to the Zimbabwean as possible in case he does deflect Lockyer’s effort. But with Bonne not getting a touch, it does not look great.

In fairness to Casilla, he has done well at the start of this season. His decision-making has generally been better.

And as Whelan suggests, no goalkeeper avoids mistakes. On the same day, Dean Henderson and Hugo Lloris made dreadful errors in the Premier League.

Marcelo Bielsa will now be hoping that Casilla responds to any criticism coming his way in the same way that he reacted to the questions he faced heading into this campaign off the back of his torrid end to last season.