Daniel Farke risks alienating Isaac Schmidt after Leeds United stance revealed
Leeds United defender Isaac Schmidt cannot get up to speed with the Championship unless he's given more minutes by Daniel Farke.
Speaking in his latest press conference, shared on X (5 November) ahead of the trip to Millwall, Farke discussed Schmidt's lack of game-time at Elland Road.
Schmidt has made just three late substitute appearances since signing for United on Deadline Day, with Sam Byram selected ahead of him despite full-back suspensions in the last two games.
Farke said: "With lots of competition, if three other full-backs are chipping in with these performances it’s difficult to be involved.
"We need this competition – I always react to what happens on the training pitch and obviously what happens performance-wise during games.
"If your competitors are delivering such a level of performance it's never easy, but it's a big motivator to improve a bit more because there are no gifts.
"Recently he was struggling with a few illnesses and little injuries so it broke his rhythm. You could see that it has impacted him a little bit in training."
Daniel Farke needs to give Isaac Schmidt a chance at Leeds United
Hopes were high once it became clear that Schmidt would become the final transfer of the summer window, with the 24-year-old signing off from St. Gallen with a goal against Trabzonspor in Europe.
However, that's almost the total of what fans have seen of the Swiss defender since his name was linked with Elland Road, with Schmidt featuring for a meagre seven minutes for the Whites [Soccerway].
Back-to-back suspensions for Junior Firpo and Jayden Bogle in consecutive games represented the perfect opportunity for Farke to give Schmidt his first start, but he didn't even play a minute.
The injuries mentioned by Farke certainly won't have helped Schmidt force his way up the pecking order, nor will a stellar display by Byram against Bristol City in Firpo's absence.
With the season about to enter its busiest, most uninterrupted period though, it's surely only a matter of time before Farke does finally give Schmidt a run of games in a crucial chunk of the promotion marathon.
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