Leeds United manager Daniel Farke must decide who to pick in goal
James Smailes
13:35, 21 Oct 2025
Karl Darlow of Leeds United
View Image
Karl Darlow of Leeds United(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
Jamie Carragher believes having Karl Darlow in goal gives Leeds United a different attacking option, with the shot-stopper a big part of why the Whites dominated against Burnley.
With the injured Lucas Perri back to full fitness and on the bench for Saturday's game at Turf Moor which Leeds lost, there have been many questioning whether the £16m summer signing returns to the starting line-up this week when Leeds host West Ham on Friday night.
Perri did start the campaign as the number one goalkeeper, but Darlow has done well in his absence, despite an error that ultimately proved costly in a 2-0 loss to Burnley.
Looking at the battle between the two goalkeepers, Carragher used his Monday Night Football technology to showcase how Leeds play a more shorter, sharper and direct passing game when Darlow is starting play from within the box, rather than the longer passing of Perri.
Carragher said; “Darlow is fantastic on the ball. You can see him here splitting the centre-backs.
“Perri actually started the first three, Darlow comes in, but you can see it’s a complete contrast really in terms of what they’re like as a goalkeeper.
"He’s really confident on the ball; he was almost like a centre-back before. He’s now breaking the lines there and this is what made Leeds actually, I’d say, play well in the game.”
While Darlow's presence has been a welcome reliable one up until the loss at Burnley with his mistake which led to a goal, he is now under more pressure after the Burnley result.
Article continues below
Carragher added; “People will obviously be critical in saying these teams shouldn’t be playing out from the back. But we wanted to show the first few clips of Karl Darlow, to actually show he’s more than competent with the ball and that actually is just a poor pass, and he’ll be really disappointed with that.”