Leeds United keeper Kiko Casilla has praised the unique Marcelo Bielsa and revealed how the boss is still monitoring players closely despite the lockdown.
With the Football League suspended right now, players up and down the country are working from home as they look to stay in shape for when the campaign does resume, even though they don’t know when it will be. And, Casilla, who is currently serving an eight-game ban for using racist language towards Charlton’s Jonathan Leko, spoke to Catalan newspaper L’Esportiu on what it’s like to work under the ‘demanding’ Bielsa and explained how he keeps tabs on his squad now.
“I think if he could he would come from house to house to keep track. Each player has a weekly plan of what he has to do, with the GPS to pass the data of his activity. They also control the weight.
“Bielsa is Bielsa. Speaking affectionately, there are days that you would kill him, but then you see how he prepares each week, how he analyses each game as if it were the last, and that is what the footballer notices. He knows a lot of football and, although his method is very demanding, he is tough, all of us at Leeds have improved a lot with him. It is worth the effort.”
Should Kiko Casilla play for Leeds United again?
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Despite having the FA charge hanging over him from the game against the Addicks back in September, Casilla had been the number one for the Whites until he was banned. The Spaniard has featured in 35 games this season and no stopper in the Championship has kept more clean sheets than the ex-Real Madrid man, who has recorded 15 shutouts.
That has been crucial to Leeds’ success this season, with Bielsa’s men currently seven points clear of third place in the race for automatic promotion. Youngster Illan Meslier has stepped up in Casilla’s absence, picking up consecutive clean sheets in his only two league games this season. Therefore, it will be interesting to see what Bielsa does, with the experienced keeper set to be available for the final three games of the campaign once his ban is complete.