‘Fantastic’ – Jenas & Keown blown away by one Leeds senior player moment despite loss v Crawley
Martin Keown and Jermaine Jenas were raving about Leeds United goalkeeper Kiko Casilla after he pulled off a superb save to stop Crawley’s Tom Nicholls scoring against them in the first half on Sunday.
Just before the whistle was blown for half-time, the League Two side had a fantastic chance to take the lead when Nicholls headed a corner towards goal.
It was a great cross that found Nicholls at the back post but Leeds number two Casilla managed to get himself over to the back post to parry the header away.
Keown bemoaned Leeds’ defending at set-pieces but had a lot of praise for the Spanish shot-stopper.
“It was a fantastic save,” said Keown on BBC’s live coverage of the game on Sunday [02:11pm].
“What about the ball in? Look at this, it just wants to be headed. Great connection [from Nichols]. What a save that is from the ‘keeper.
“It rises really well, doesn’t it? It sort of comes off his head and shoulder but great anticipation from the goalkeeper.”
Keown added: “If the quality is there from the cross they can get bodies on the end of it.
“The marking from set-pieces from Leeds, they haven’t really cracked it all season.”
Jenas was also impressed by the save, with the ex-Tottenham playing saying at half-time: “You can see there why Casilla was thinking ‘do I come for it or do I not?’. But it was a top save.”
…And then it all went wrong
Casilla did well to make that save. But that was the only positive we could say about his performance at Crawley.
He could have done better to save their first goal in the 3-0 defeat while his attempt at the second goal was pathetic as he was beaten at his near post.
Crawley could have had a fourth goal when Casilla found himself stranded outside his penalty area but was helped out by his defenders.
It was a pathetic display by Casilla and he shouldn’t be playing for Leeds again.
The ex-Real Madrid goalkeeper’s contract is up in the summer and if he gets an extension, massive questions have to be asked of Victor Orta and Marcelo Bielsa for allowing that.
He was a liability in the Championship and was banned for racially abusing a fellow professional last term.
Casilla doesn’t deserve a contract at any English club, let alone Leeds.
In other Leeds United news, Phil Hay has shared an update on Karen Carney after she was invited to Thorp Arch by Andrea Radrizzani.