Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill has been waxing lyrical about Leeds United goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell despite a poor performance against Austria on Friday
Peacock-Farrell, 21, picked up a backpass from Jonny Evans and in the last round of Nations League fixtures, he was involved in a defensive mix-up that saw Bosnia and Herzegovina score a gift of a goal.
O’Neill remains happy with the Leeds untouchable though, and believes that he can develop into a top goalkeeper as long as he keeps on playing regularly for Northern Ireland.
“We can scrutinise Bailey’s performance but he’s a goalkeeper with massive potential,” O’Neill said, as quoted by BBC Sport.
“I’ve seen very experienced goalkeepers do the same in a game. It’s a big learning curve for Bailey.
“He’s coming in, he’s still young enough to play in the U21s but he’s handled himself very well.
“We have to play him, we have to develop him and that’s what we’ll do. I attach no blame to him really for anything to date.
“We’re very lucky to have a goalkeeper of that quality we can develop for the future.”
OPINION
Peacock-Farrell was slammed by some fans for his latest performance for Northern Ireland, but the Leeds mainstay is still young and he is bound to make these kinds of errors as he continues towards reaching his potential. Luckily he is getting plenty of game-time at Elland Road having played in every minute of every Championship game this season. He now has three caps for Northern Ireland and with every one of them he earns, he will have improved ever so slightly as a player. O’Neill is right to come out and stand by the youngster because this time last year he was playing for York City in the sixth-tier of English football. Leeds fans have been patient with him and Northern Ireland fans must do as well – it’s not like they have many other better options right now. Peacock-Farrell will surely go on to be the Green and White Army’s number one for years to come, he just needs time.