Kiko Casilla

[The Subhuman]

lol ..

[1964white]

Is Casilla really going back to Spain or did he just come too far off his line?

(Stolen from Twitter)

[Cjay]

Think he is one of the best keepers in the league myself.

Yesterday i dont think we cope so well with Wigan's corners and crosses without him, did well.

Made some good saves to.

Hope the section of our fanbase that wont stop moaning about him get off his back.

I like Kiko, seems a nice fella to

[The Subhuman]

Very happy with Kiko as our stopper.

[1964white]

Think he is one of the best keepers in the league myself.

Yesterday i dont think we cope so well with Wigan's corners and crosses without him, did well.

Made some good saves to.

Hope the section of our fanbase that wont stop moaning about him get off his back.

I like Kiko, seems a nice fella to

Without any doubt Cjay

Two top superb saves from Kiko from set-piece free kicks heading into the top corner of the net

[Irish Ian]

Played well yesterday.

[dezzy]

Kiko worried me at Bristol, seemed very erratic, but he has looked much calmer and settled since, I think a lot of it was to do with communication with the back four and trusting them and them trusting him.
There’s a lot to be said for consistency in selection especially at the back

[1964white]

Bielsa knew Kiko was no mug, signing Casilla was a coup for Leeds

Remember how De Gea started his Man Ure career, now one of the best keepers to grace the premiership

[weasel]

Bielsa knew Kiko was no mug, signing Casilla was a coup for Leeds

Remember how De Gea started his Man Ure career, now one of the best keepers to grace the premiership

Indeed. Far harder for keepers to adapt to a new team and way of playing than outfield players. A keeper might go through games without having a save to make, cross to take etc so it is harder for them to acclimatise. Keepers are also never going to give 100% in training as it is very easy to pick up an injury (or at least bruising) diving full length and there isn't the same intensity as in a match where a mistake can lead to a goal being conceded.

[LevLeeds]

Completed more passes than any other outfield Wigan player as well.

Great keeper, settled in slowly, difficult for keepers generally anyway, more pressure in the position and not speaking English. Massively improved in recent weeks though.

[mothbanquet]

It seems to me there is (as is often the case with the accursed social media) a vocal section of the fanbase who will seize on any minor slip to slam Kiko, ignoring the fact that he will likely have made a lot of brilliant saves beforehand - and act like a nervy moment is as bad as letting in 3 or 4 goals.

The media, commentators and pundits have annoyingly jumped on this bandwagon, making ludicrous claims during a game that he 'terrifies his defenders'. The blind leading the blind. He's unorthodox in this league to be sure but I wonder if he'll find a more natural home in the Premier League? Either way I doubt it will stop those he makes uncomfortable complaining, even if he got 20+ clean sheets along the way.

[weasel]

As a defender I would much rather have a keeper that comes for crosses than stays on his line. I would also much rather have a keeper that reads the danger and is alert and on his toes to rush out and clear the danger before it becomes dangerous (i.e before their striker gets to the ball and is clean through). Obviously communication is key but as long as the keeper is vocal enough that you are in no doubt over the fact he is coming then you trust him and try to block the opposition rather than going for the ball (and getting in his way).

You can't expect the keeper to catch/punch every cross cleanly but my rule as a defender when trying to deal with crosses was that if you could get anything on the ball to slightly deviate it's path then that is all you can do and it is better to deviate the path of the ball slightly than not at all because it will then not reach its intended target (obviously it might fall to someone else but nothing much you can do if that happens and if you didn't deviate the flight of the ball then likely someone was going to tap it home anyway). Same for me with keepers and there is no way they will be able to get to every ball cleanly given the amount of shoving and pushing and blocking off that teams do (and it tends to be allowed by refs here where it wouldn't be in Spain and other countries) so if they can get anything on it then it is better than nothing - against Forest if he comes for the corner (when Grabban scored) then maybe he gets something on it and we don't concede.

[mothbanquet]

You can't expect the keeper to catch/punch every cross cleanly

I would assume this part of his game will improve substantially as the season goes on, and would be covered in training too?

[weasel]

From what I have seen it seems to be improving already although probably now jinxed him. He will start to judge it better, be able to spot opposition players trying to block him, get used to being jumped into as he is about to punch/catch etc. Also his teammates should grow in confidence that when he calls he will come and they can then work on protecting him a bit more by blocking the opposition from clattering him and giving him a clearer run to get to the ball.

[Cjay]

4th game in a row.

[weasel]

And I mentioned on the matchday thread that he, or other sweeper keepers, would have likely have stopped our first goal today as he would have been well of his line and in a position to intercept the pass, Federici was rooted in his 6 yard box allowing Dallas all the time in the world to get to the pass.

[1964white]

4th game in a row.

Incredible stat

[YorkshireSquare]

Kiko Casilla, a keeper redeemed?

Solid performances this season, some good saves, kept us in a few games.

[dezzy]

I think we were all a little worried would Kiko settle in the championship after a few wobbles, but it’s looking like his class will shine through

[weasel]

Kiko Casilla, a keeper redeemed?

Solid performances this season, some good saves, kept us in a few games.

I made the point in the matchday thread that Kiko made the saves that needed making and kept us from going behind and potentially losing the game. This is a major difference to last year when BPF seemed to let in goals that should have been routine saves and we then went on to lose games. Even the little things like when he came off his line to block Wilkes (when KP forced Wilkes wide) shows the benefit of having a keeper that reads the play as if he'd stayed on his line Wilkes would have got to the ball and been able to have a shot.