I don't agree with you at all, I don't see how Casillas was poor, if anyone should be dropped its Pepe and Ramos for their sub par performances.
It's not news that Casillas' touch is declining. I mean you remember the games vs Villarreal and Malaga last year where he essentially did the same thing and cost team the points with those saveable freekicks going in? He's becoming more and more lazy. His game in air has always been his downside and this season it was no different. Valencia goal, Getafe blunder, even against City and then some more brain farts and inconsistent keeping costing us points early on.
Pepe and Ramos dropped? Yeah. Ramos was already dropped once and came back, and performed. That defense is the only reason why we've conceded so few goals while having to deal with a powerful opposition most of the time. And that's with left backs missing consistently for 4 straight months. Tonight we had to play Essien at the back again as well.
Thing is, the whole team is not performing up to par so why is dropping Iker any different of a tactical decision than dropping the defenders? Neither of them are performing. Putting Iker out there just to count on him having his yearly one-off where he makes clearances off the goal line? You could try. You could either get that or another disappointing subpar performance like almost every other this season. But I understand why he was finally dropped and I don't expect any other coach to try that, especially not with Adan as a backup. You could see it on his face that he was crushed after that third goal, which he could've done a better job trying to avoid.
And going back to these freekicks he allowed in (could push in the first Messi FK in the SuperCup as well, was saveable), the difference between last season and this is that the transition and morale was consistently good. This season it is not and instead of doing his goalkeeper job consistently well he allows 14 goals in 44 shots, which gives us about a goal per 3 shots ratio. Not looking too great when your team is not performing very well and they depend on you to make them stay in the game and not lose it.
+ to be clear, I'm not saying Iker should be to blame for anything. The whole team is bad and offense isn't anywhere near where it was last season, but that is only to say that his benching is not such a shock to me as it seems to be with everyone else.
@down
He IS underperforming, the whole team is. Did no say that for sure is a reason why he got benched. Don't like to make such judgements on managerial matters.
And his "saving ass" can never be taken for granted. At least not when you actually do follow the games and not just shoot off of Bayern/Spain performances.
