Leeds United manager Daniel Farke is hopeful that Georginio Rutter can improve in front of goal, as previously unseen statistics indicate that the French attacker is on the verge of a scoring surge.
Georginio‘s form has been one of the more enjoyable aspects of Leeds‘ performances this season as the team has challenged for automatic promotion. The 21-year-old’s nine assists are tied for the league lead with Ipswich Town’s Leif Davis – a former Leeds player himself – but Farke wants Rutter to improve in other areas, such as finishing.
Despite starting in a more advanced position, the France Under-21 international has four league goals this season, one fewer than attacking teammates Dan James, Crysencio Summerville, and Joel Piroe. Farke has explained why this is the case, emphasising Rutter’s ability to lead the press when United is out of possession.
Georginio, as his name appears on the back of his shirt, has found himself in numerous scoring positions this season, only to waste the opportunities that have been presented to him. He has more than made up for the occasional poor finish with his creative play and is the Championship’s most creative outlet in more than one metric. According to Opta, no player in the second tier has a higher Expected Assisted Goals (xAG) figure than Georginio this season, highlighting his undeniable creative ability. No one has come close to matching the number of ‘big chances’ created by the youngster, which are defined as shots with a value greater than 0.30 Expected Goals (xG).
According to Opta data, Rutter’s xG is the eighth-highest in the Championship, indicating that he is frequently found in good shooting positions and has plenty of opportunities to score. Georginio, on the other hand, is currently underperforming his xG by 3.50 points. Given his season xG of 7.50, the Frenchman should have been expected to score nearly twice as many goals as he did.
When there is a large difference between actual goals scored and a player’s Expected Goals, it usually indicates a regression – or, in Rutter’s case, a progression – to the mean. That is, the young forward should score more frequently in the second half of the season than he did in the first. In layman’s terms, he’s getting chances, and it’s only a matter of time before he starts putting them away more consistently.
“Being there with clinical finishes is still something he could improve on, he could already be there with double figures,” Farke said following the weekend’s 1-1 draw with Coventry City.
“The only thing that was missing was the clinical, brutal finish, and it may have had something to do with our youth in the offensive players, who still had to step up a bit.” We discussed before the season how players like Cree Summerville, Daniel James, and Georgi Rutter could and should improve their end product. “We’ve improved a lot, but every now and then a game comes along that shows you’re not the finished product, still a work in progress,” Leeds manager added.
Farke admitted this week that he would prioritise shooting practice ahead of Saturday’s visit from Ipswich: “It’s always good to find balance, not to lose self-confidence in terms of finishing, because we’ve scored many fantastic goals, some team goals that were a bit like goal of the season.”
“So also to remind them about these situations and remind them how well they’ve done in terms of end product, but also the last two to three per cent greediness to score, this is definitely a topic for the upcoming training week.”
Georginio has not scored in four games, but he has assisted in four of Leeds’ last six. Furthermore, his goals this season have demonstrated supreme quality at this level, such as last month’s takedown of Ethan Ampadu’s 60-yard pass, holding off Bashir Humphreys’ challenge, and slotting past the Swansea City goal keeper.
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