Iker Casillas is not the goalkeeper he once was… that much is clear. But our club captain has been handed a starting role in all five of our competitive matches so far this season, despite Keylor Navas coming in to add competition to the number one position in the club, following Diego Lopez's departure to AC Milan.
Navas is an incredibly talented goalkeeper and proved it at this summer's World Cup, after single-handedly helping Levante to a very respectable 10th place last season.
Both players played in different competitions for their clubs last season, but both played in this summer's World Cup, so the fairest comparison we can make is on their performances in Brazil. Navas made five appearances in Costa Rica's campaign that ended in the quarter-finals, while Casillas made two for Spain, who exited the competition at the group stages.
The Costa Rican had a save rate of 91.3% in comparison to Casillas' 50%. While Navas completed 101 passes, our captain only managed 35. Even more telling, the Spaniard covered 6.2km in his 180 minutes on the pitch, while his teammate covered 24.7km in 510 minutes. The statistical comparison gets even worse when you see that Navas made 21 saves which drastically diminishes Casillas' seven saves.
Even though our long-term incumbent in goal played significantly less than the new man at the club, he certainly had a World Cup to forget, while the 27-year-old was the most impressive in his position at the tournament behind only Germany's Manuel Neuer.
So, even though I'm sure it's on his mind, Carlo Ancelotti needs to give Keylor a chance to show that he will be a more secure choice in between the posts than the rapidly declining 33-year-old. If the World Cup can be used as an indicator of recent form, perhaps we wouldn't be conceding four goals in a game if we choose to change things up a bit.
