Daniel Farke held his pre-match press conference earlier this afternoon ahead of Leeds United’s Championship play-off final with Southampton on Sunday.
Farke will be looking to end his first season in charge at Elland Road in the best possible way by guiding Leeds to an immediate return to the Premier League.
Having missed out on the top two, Farke suggested last month that in September he could’ve only imagined Leeds being in the position they are in right now.
Upon his appointment in the summer, Farke arrived at a club in total disarray. 49ers Enterprises were in the process of having their full takeover approved, while Farke was powerless to stop many of the first team players leaving on loan.
There was interest in plenty more of Leeds‘ players, too, but Farke was seemingly capable of convincing them, and the board, that staying at Elland Road was the right decision.
Farke explains Georginio Rutter pre-season talks amid ‘fantastic’ season
Despite so many players moving on, Leeds were still able to keep several members of the squad that was in the Premier League, which has stood them in good stead.
Illan Meslier, Pascal Struijk, Junior Firpo, Willy Gnonto, Crysencio Summerville, Georginio Rutter and Patrick Bamford have all been key at different stages to Leeds being within just 90 minutes of the top-flight again.
Having come down from the Premier League with such a whimper, though, there was plenty of work behind-the-scenes on the training field needed to restore some of the confidence levels. Perhaps none more so than with Rutter.
After his club-record arrival from Hoffenheim in January 2023, Rutter was handed just one Premier League start and under his own admission, his belief had hit rock bottom.
Sam Allardyce even publicly admitted he was not considering him as a proper option in the four matches he managed. However, it has been a different story this season.
With eight goals and 16 assist across all competitions, he has become a key player at Elland Road, even being named in the Championship TOTS.
Speaking in his press conference today, Farke has shed light on some of the work that went on with Rutter last summer which has led to his ‘fantastic’ individual season.
He said: “In the beginning communication was quite important. I listened to what he said. It’s important to let the players speak, get a feeling for what the problem is, also to work with him, to communicate about finding good solutions.
“Sell your plan to the players, it’s not so much about talking then, it’s more about acting and interacting with them. Then comes down to hard work. I would never praise myself for developing a player, I will always praise the players.
“We can work with them, bring them close to the door, but they have to take the step through it, take the good advice on board.
“Georgi had a difficult start to life here, develops in this way, some more challenging spells this season, overall he has played a fantastic season, deserves all the credit, hopefully he can do it in one last game.”
Rutter admits he has area for improvement at Leeds
Rutter has been able to establish himself as a fan favourite this season due to his entertaining style of play and brilliant personality off the pitch.
However, the way he plays can often put both him and the team in trouble, as he looks to dribble his way out of areas that he shouldn’t.
Ahead of this weekend’s game, Rutter has acknowledged that picking his moments is certainly an area of his game he needs to improve.
He said: “Sometimes it is instinctive, but sometimes I need to be more mature because if I lose the ball it can be dangerous for the team.
“It is true that sometimes I do something good, but sometimes as well not good. I need to try find the middle. But when it works it’s good, because I can hear the fans going ‘woahh’. For me it is the confidence as well, when I am dribbling I am very happy.”