Leeds United 1-1 Hull City: Armbands in the Deep End

To retrospectively justify watching a Premier League club's reserves toiling against a League One team in the Carabao Cup, we can ask, who from the fringes earned something like a place in the first team?

But unearned rewards were being handed out before the game, when Kiko Casilla was given the captain's armband, so let's ask ourselves about that first.

Two questions come to mind. Later, did Casilla make a good captain on the night? But first, what has Kiko Casilla ever done in his time at Leeds United to make anyone think he would?

You're looking for a player who can handle pressure. Cast your mind back to Griffin Park, last season's lowest ebb. We usually point to the defeat at Nottingham Forest for that, and Luke Ayling's shell-shocked post-match interview, and then the turning point: Marcelo Bielsa ripping up the script at a team meeting, inspiring the senior professionals to get a grip on the promotion campaign. Well, most of them. Senior professional Kiko Casilla's response was to let a simple pass from Liam Cooper roll under his foot, giving Brentford an early lead with arguably his most ludicrous mistake yet.

You're looking for a player who can inspire those around him. Take Kalvin Phillips, talking about that mistake after the game, as your guide: he said that on the pitch he was thinking, "Oh no, here we go again." Or think about Tyler Roberts, whose good friend Jonathan Leko was so ground down by the investigation after he reported Casilla for racially abusing him that he said afterwards he regretted saying anything. On Tuesday morning Roberts posted a link on Instagram to a new interview with Thierry Henry at Bleacher Report, talking about racism he has experienced in football, adding his own comments: 'Listen — We STILL need change'. On Tuesday evening, as Roberts knelt at kick-off as part of this season's 'No Room For Racism' campaign, was he glancing over his shoulder to the goalmouth, wondering how there is still room for Kiko Casilla not just in the team, but leading it?

You're looking for a player who sees a picture bigger than ninety minutes, who can think tactically and responsibly, be aware and involved with the implications of actions in the match and beyond it. Think about the part of Casilla's defence against his racism charge in which, despite evidence that the referee told him about the complaint after the game; despite evidence from the team bus home from Charlton that Roberts, after getting a text from Leko, asked Casilla outright if he'd called his friend the n-word; despite a month to prepare to speak to The FA about the serious charge being made against him; despite all that, Casilla told the FA a month after the incident that he did not know, as he sat in their interview room, what the n-word meant. Casilla's claim was that in the four weeks since being accused of calling Leko 'You fucking n----r', he had been so incurious about the situation that he hadn't even asked one single person what the word meant, or why everyone was so angry about the idea he'd said it. Not even one Google search.

You're looking for a player who can uphold the values and enhance the reputation of the football club in the public eye. I can't think of any ways Casilla has done that in his time at Leeds, on the pitch or off it. And whatever the get-out 'yeah-buts' say about the FA finding him guilty on the balance of probability, the image the public has is that Leeds United are giving the captaincy of a first team fixture to that rubbish goalie who called someone the n-word and never said sorry. Whether that public image is fair is one thing. But the club shouldn't ignore it, because the image is a fact. Among a large number of fans who the club would like to attract to watch Premier League football at Leeds, I think that image can be enough to decide, nah.

Casilla's captaincy of the team for the Hull game is also a fact, so as with everybody on the pitch last night, we were looking to see what he would then do to justify his presence. Casilla did not inspire the team to a good performance, or help an inexperienced defence cope with Hull's enthusiastic attackers. He didn't even front up to the post-match interviews to explain or apologise for the result, because he is essentially uninterviewable at Leeds. In Spain, outside the influence of the club's media department, Casilla has had no problem denying his guilt to any journalist who'll listen, but he won't be allowed in front of the press here, because they will inevitably ask about the racism charge. Ezgjan Alioski did the talking instead; maybe he should have led the team?