I WON’T KIK HIM WHILE HE’S DOWN
Bielsa still backing keeper Casilla despite his blunders
MARCELO BIELSA is standing by Leeds’ calamity keeper Kiko Casilla.
The Argentinian says Casilla will keep his place for today’s promotion clash against Bristol City at Elland Road, despite his latest costly blunder.
The former Real Madrid stopper was at fault for Brentford’s goal in Tuesday’s 1-1 draw and the gaffe was his fourth mistake in the last two months, all of which have lead to scores.
Many fans wants Bielsa to axe Casilla, but the Leeds boss insists he is still his No.1.
“I don’t support Kiko, I support the team,” he said. “If supporting Kiko is supporting the team, I support Kiko. If I support Kiko, but I damage the team, I will not support Kiko.”
Bielsa says he is not blind to Casilla’s mistakes, which are a factor in Leeds’ slump, but his overall displays are still good. He also claims the errors have not knocked the Spaniard’s confidence and his team-mates still believe in him.
“I do not ignore the mistakes that Kiko’s made,” added Bielsa (right). “They are evident.
“Also, it’s true the consequence of his mistakes are linked with the results of the team.
“But I give credit to Kiko. In the same matches where he made mistakes and in the other ones, he kept the confidence in himself and continued giving the right answers in every situation in the game.
“Other goalkeepers, when they fail in the aerial play, the next time they are between the posts, they don’t come out any more. Other keepers when they give a bad pass, afterwards they start to play long. “Other keepers, when they make mistakes, lose the confidence of team-mates. “Sometimes when players realise the keeper has made a mistake, they don’t give him the ball any more. So Kiko remains confident and he also has the confidence of his team-mates.”
Bielsa knows he is under fire because Leeds have won just two of their last 11 league games to blow their grip on automatic promotion.
But he learnt long ago in his native Argentina that management is lonely.
“There is only one way to avoid this – win every match,” he said. “But I don’t. I know that in Argentina, but in the rest of the world as well, you only receive support if you win.
“And as almost every manager is a loser, every manager generally is alone.”