Former Leeds United defender points out improvement to be made in Georginio Rutter
Georginio Rutter is firing on all cylinders this season but former Leeds United defender Jon Newsome believes the young forward still has room for improvement.
Speaking on BBC Radio Leeds, transcribed by Yorkshire Evening Post on Friday (10 December), Newsome admitted that he expects Rutter to be more positive in front of goal.
Although the Frenchman has tallied up eight assists so far this season, he has only managed to score four goals in 19 league appearances.
“There are times where the stuff he does is sublime; it’s verging on the ridiculous the way he drifts past people and uses his body so well now to lean into people and use their body weight to get on the half-turn,” he said.
“And then there’s the other bits that he’s so frustrating. If I was coaching him, the one thing that I’d be trying to instil into him is that I want him to score me goals.
“So I want him to play in between the posts. I don’t want him drifting out wide too much. I understand that he does that at times but I think he does that a little bit too often for me.”
A little harsh
In the future, it may be vital that Rutter learns how to properly hit the target, improving upon his four goals this season. But for now, he fits Farke’s system brilliantly and the eight assists make up for the lack of goals.
With Joel Piroe the main goalscorer in the team, Rutter’s playmaker ability is extremely important to the form of Piroe, Crysencio Summerville and Dan James, seeing him just one assist behind the league-high of nine from Ipswich Town’s Leif Davis.
Much of the Whites’ joy in attack comes from Rutter dropping into the midfield, picking up the ball and driving forward before laying it off for a teammate to hammer home.
As the club’s record transfer fee, however, it is understandable as to why some are expecting more goals from a striker as Leeds push to claim promotion back to the Premier League.
But after a poor first season at Elland Road, making just one start last season as the Whites crashed out of the top tier, it is night and day between the Rutter we saw last season to this season.
In other Leeds United news, Phil Hay has shared an update on Stuart Dallas’ future at Elland Road after a behind-the-scenes update emerged.