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Some Leeds Fans Are Overly Harsh Following One Man’s Derby Error

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Leeds United took a 4-1 victory over Derby County at Pride Park at the weekend to make it two wins from two under Marcelo Bielsa.

Our unbeaten start to the year has gifted fans plenty of positives and there are a number of things that can easily be latched onto as the players continue to show improvement under the new gaffer and he continues getting his message across – not least some fine individual showings so far as some players seem to have found new gears to their performances.

One man who wasn’t so lucky at the weekend was young goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell. The 21-year-old was clearly at fault for what became Derby County’s consolation goal on the day, and bizarrely some fans are already calling for him to be replaced in the starting lineup.

Reactions in the moment can often be harsh in hindsight when the fulltime whistle is reached, and with plenty more calls for Jamal Blackman to come in, I think harsh is the right word here. Yes, he made a mistake, it happens. He’s also still young and developing but he’s undoubtedly shown his quality so fans shouldn’t throw their toys out of the pram when it comes to such an isolated error.

My guess is Bielsa was going to start with Blackman for the Bolton Wanderers EFL Cup clash anyway, so if BPF is dropped now I don’t think he’d take a confidence knock from it. Bielsa might now actually stick with him so he can more quickly shake off that error and get another game under his belt and hopefully a clean sheet for the boost that will bring.

After his performances last year though, he shouldn’t be overly concerned either way and I’m sure he’s been told to shake it off quickly as well and with Bielsa’s penchant for a video, he may have already been given a gag reel of errors by goalkeeping greats as they all make them.

He retains the faith of the majority of fans for me, and ultimately all that matters is whether he retains the faith of Bielsa, and I’m pretty sure he won’t overreact.

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