‘One of those games’… Daniel Farke says 21-year-old Leeds player looked ‘tired’ today despite 2-0 win

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Daniel Farke has shared his assessment after Leeds United’s 2-0 win away at Plymouth Argyle today.

The Whites were certainly made to work for their three points more so than in the midweek demolition of Swansea City, with goals from Willy Gnonto and Georginio Rutter enough for the victory.

That was Leeds’ eighth consecutive Championship win and one of the most hard-fought of the lot, with a couple of spells either side of half-time seeing possession squandered on numerous occasions.

As a result of that, Farke made a slight tactical mid-game change as he swapped Joel Piroe and Rutter around, a move which proved to be inspired as the former set-up the 21-year-old to wrap up the points.

Speaking in his post-match press conference after the game, Farke admitted that Rutter looked ‘tired’ at points, which is why he made the switch and is delighted it paid off.

Farke admits Rutter looked ‘tired’

“It was one of those game days when we had to work a lot against the ball, Georgi had lots of load in recent weeks and he looked a bit tired. We wanted to have him on the pitch with his pace and confidence, he’s good in set-pieces, a bit underrated at defensive set-pieces.

“We had a feeling that could be crucial today. Joel always delivers lots of work load. Normally he and Ilia [Gruev] cover the highest distances and he can stand the load.

“We had the feeling to have Georgi a bit higher up the pitch and could run in behind with his pace. Thank God it paid off with the second goal. It was perhaps also one of the games when Georgi had one or two losses in possession [as a 10].

“But it’s good we are that flexible and they both haven’t forgotten how it feels to be in each position.”

Today was undoubtedly one of Rutter’s poorest performances of the season, yet he still walked away with a goal and assist, showing the level of quality he has.

Leeds have had an extremely busy period of travelling and matches over the last two weeks and so in fairness, it is no surprise they looked a little tired.

Thankfully Leeds now have a free week ahead of them before they host Leicester City in a huge clash next week, in which Rutter will be hopefully be feeling refreshed once again.