David Woods

Sat 8 February 2020 20:22, UK

Kiko Casilla was the man in the spotlight today for Leeds United and for all the wrong reasons.

After blundering to gift Wigan the only goal of the game last week, he let Sammy Ameobi score at his near post in the first half. It was a shot that no Championship keeper should have let in.

That effectively gave Forest the win and they scored a second late on as Leeds were pressing.

Talking in a Q&A on the Athletic, Hay said that he thought Casilla needed to come out of the team for his own good.

He said he would ask Marcelo Beislaa about it in the post-match press conference.

As expected, Bielsa didn’t blame his player saying, “I cannot condemn in public the situation with Casilla”.

This suggests that it’s something that Bielsa will discuss with Casilla in private.

And it’s something that needs addressing. Casilla has been in really poor form for a couple of months now.

He’s making a big mistake almost every game and it’s invariably costing Leeds.

Illan Meslier, the number two keeper at the club, has only played one senior game against Arsenal in the FA Cup, but he was magnificent at the Emirates and we think he needs to take the gloves.

Casilla is due to have his FA hearing for racist abuse this month and that could be weighing on his mind.

Whatever is causing his loss of form, though, Leeds can’t afford to keep him between the sticks.

The 11-point buffer to third has vanished and Leeds travel to Griffin Park to play Brentford on Tuesday. Defeat there will see them drop out of the top two for the first time.

Casilla is by no means the only problem but he’s the biggest one at the moment.

In other Leeds United news, ‘Joke’ – Some Leeds fans react as BBC man says what Poveda is doing after being axed from squad