Difficult and character-building is how Bailey Peacock-Farrell has described the two months he has gone without kicking a ball for Leeds United. After breaking into the first team at Elland Road in March 2018 under Paul Heckingbottom, Peacock-Farrell established himself as number one under Marcelo Bielsa. However, the Northern Ireland international was soon dropped after the January arrival of former Real Madrid stopper Kiko Casilla. The 22-year-old has not played for the first team since January 19, but finally got the chance to play some competitive football on Thursday for his country Speaking to the press after the match, he said: "It has been difficult and character building. “You have to try and take the positives out of it. It was an opportunity for me to work on a few things, get in the gym and build on things that way as well. “No one likes not playing because we are in this sport to play so it was a new experience for me to sit out and watch someone else play." Ironically, the international break came at the perfect time for Peacock-Farrell to boost his match practise with two matches before returning for the Whites next weekend. Casilla’s red card in the latter stages of last weekend’s Sheffield United loss means Peacock-Farrell will almost certainly feature against Millwall. The advice Bailey Peacock-Farrell has been given on international duty that can reignite his Leeds United career Asked about the impact Bielsa has had on him, he said: "I'm learning a lot. I'm learning new things every day. He pushes you to the limits and trains you under stressful conditions. "All of it is preparing you right for the game on Saturday. I want to play whether I'm with Leeds or Northern Ireland. You can't beat playing. “You can't get that feeling anywhere else other than stepping out and playing 90 minutes. That's what I love." https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/...nyJbfU6hdP1PPb88derHbykS1PSzTVJwxEGtEycUenwvE
For me is the perfect No2 and **** his time by improving his game. His time will come elsewhere unless a catastrophic injury occurs to Kiko. He's not good enough as a No1 at Leeds so not ready for the prem. Yes he could be good enough as a No1 elsewhere but his choice.
I hope he's learning from Kiko too, he is still young for a goalie, great save for NI, good practice for this weekend.
Yep he’s very young for a keeper. How good he’ll be? It’s hard to say, the staff at Leeds have always rated him, bielsa implied that he was better in training and that he didnt always do himself justice in matches which implies that it was maybe decision making and/or pressure... things that come with experience. I’m actually pleased to hear him say its been difficult, instead of the, ‘boss picks the team, happy to be squad member’ stuff. Shows he cares and he really wants to play.
He's got great potential in my opinion and will become a top 'keeper i hope he stays with us and learns from Casilla, well, his good points anyway because some of the stuff kiko does scares the **** out of me
Yeh hopefully he looks away at the head butts, sendings off and randomly hurtling out of his goal bits!
