Sky Sports pundit Darren Bent has suggested his concerns over Kiko Casilla have eased after the Leeds United goalkeeper turned his form around in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Bristol City.
Many supporters went into the match fearful of what could occur when boss Marcelo Bielsa confirmed that Casilla would start, after the Spaniard conceded 17 times in ten league games heading into the Robins’ trip to Elland Road.
Casilla also produced high-level blunders against Nottingham Forest and Brentford in the two most-recent fixtures before the Bristol City encounter, in which he was able to register his first clean sheet since December 10.
The one-time international is now two-clear of Blackburn Rovers’ Christian Walton in the fight for the Championship’s Golden Glove award, having kept a league-high 13 clean sheets in total.
Bent is confident this will come as a ‘massive’ lift for Casilla after his recent errors, and also serve as a substantial boost for our promotion hopes with top-two hopefuls Fulham, Brentford, Nottingham Forest, Preston North End and Bristol City all within six points.
“It’s massive for him,” Bent told Football Insider. “He’s looked very, very shaky, he hasn’t looked like the goalkeeper that we’ve seen in previous seasons [but] that win was massive, because I feared the worst.
Has Casilla now turned his fortunes around?
Yes, hopefully
No, not yet
“They were sitting there on 56 points, Fulham are there on 56 behind, Brentford are just behind, Forest are a point behind – you’re thinking if certain results go against them, they go fifth!
“They managed to grind out a win. I do worry about Leeds and you just think what else can they do?”
While Bent is assured that Casilla will take a clean sheet against Bristol City as a ‘massive’ boost to his confidence and, hopefully, performances, it will take more than one solid performance in a match where he was relatively quiet to quell all concerns.
A stern defensive showing from Stuart Dallas, Liam Cooper, Ben White, Luke Ayling and Kalvin Phillips left Casilla only obliged to make one save and one collection last Saturday, as the Robins were restricted to a sole shot on target, per WhoScored.
The biggest take from the weekend’s clash can really be that at least Casilla did not make another error that led to a goal, with the 33-year-old having made five so far this season – the second-most by any Championship player.
But at least Casilla has started going in the right direction after an error-strewn few weeks, and, hopefully, it continues this Saturday against Reading.
In other Leeds United news, a former Championship player has been left in awe of an ‘outstanding’ Whites talent.