A few seconds in and the gap in the armour, or the biggest in Huddersfield Town’s flimsy suit of it, was laid bare. Leeds United advanced down the left and found in Huddersfield’s right-back, Tom Edwards, everything they wanted to see.
Edwards resisted that attack, just about, but the initial glimpse of him spelled trouble: his meagre pace, the wide turning circle, a build more befitting a central midfielder than a full-back. On the subject of where Leeds were going to hurt their guests, a consensus formed quickly. The opening goal took 20 minutes to come but when it did, it leant on that weakness, the first act of a brutal derby that rinsed Huddersfield completely and rinsed the colour from faces in the away end.
Once Crysencio Summerville got away on that side of the pitch, there was no catching him, and Dan James’ shot at the end of the move was clinically accurate, as Leeds were from start to finish in a first half which wrapped up with them 4-0 to the good. But the telling part of Summerville’s counter was what set it in motion: the rapidly inflating influence of Georginio Rutter, a yard ahead in body and mind in a league which is not made to cope with his instinct.
Rutter has two Championship goals this season which, for a team who have scored 24, is not how a No 9 would want the numbers to look. No doubt a centre-forward’s role has evolved over the years — or had done until Erling Haaland and his ilk made the poacher fashionable again — but a club’s No 9 wants to be scoring. Even so, through either Daniel Farke’s system, Rutter’s touch or a combination of both, his creative output compensates for that; a game-after-game flow of vision and imagination. Leeds without him would have a good hand to play going forward. Leeds with him have the benefit of someone who sees so much before anyone else.
That was Huddersfield’s undoing when James scored first: Rutter, switching from defensive mode, bringing the ball out of his own box and finding Summerville with a delayed pass to the right which hit Huddersfield in their weak spot. Summerville’s control was equally good, allowing him to reach full speed in a flash, but Rutter’s knack, seen time and again since the Premier League became the Championship for Leeds, is to spot the instants when defence can become attack and havoc is begging to be wreaked, bringing the sauce out of others around him.
A few weeks ago, Farke spoke at length about how he was choosing to use Rutter and why, more to the point, it was Joel Piroe playing at 10 rather than 9. His reasoning, among other things, was that Rutter’s superior pace would help to stretch defenders but it is often when Rutter drops deep into the gaps, where he can pick passes, that his reading of opponents kicks in. Nobody in the Championship is close to touching him for big chances created. Five clubs have created fewer than his 13. No player in the Championship has fashioned more chances from open play either, another metric on which Rutter has been on a different level from most.
Positioned up front, his variation and roaming tendencies have given Leeds an outlet in the pocket outside the penalty area, and Huddersfield were exposed to his unpredictable skill set: the running which let him ghost between two defenders and set up Summerville for a chance which went begging in the first half, the deft ball around the corner to Willy Gnonto which left Huddersfield in disarray again in the second. He was there in so many of Leeds’ best moments, the grim reaper cutting a dreadful Huddersfield side down. It is not even like Rutter is making himself look like a soft touch who is there to be bullied.
Week by week, it is a recurring theme. In contrast to Piroe who, since his transfer from Swansea City, has flitted in and out. Saturday was one of those fixtures in which, despite the mismatch, Piroe went more unnoticed. With Rutter, the impact is regular and reliable, even in a muddle like Stoke City away last Wednesday when, in an ocean of mediocrity, his through-ball from 25 yards out drew the penalty which Patrick Bamford contrived to miss.
Piroe at No 10 might blow hot and cold and Farke might accept that, if used differently, Piroe individually would score more goals. Rutter’s intelligence in possession does seem suited to a role at No 10. His touches against Huddersfield (below) were rife outside the box and positively unpredictable. But that is hardly the same as accusing Farke of having a dysfunctional attack, not when Leeds are third in the table.
Nor is the best of Leeds’ attacking play purely about Rutter. Summerville has six goals and four assists. James, who scored twice in Saturday’s win, has three and four. But Rutter himself has two and five; his latest assist putting Leeds 4-0 up on the stroke of half-time after he and Sam Byram made mincemeat of Edwards, and the eye test says that the form of forwards who need to shine is being enhanced by Rutter’s string-pulling.
The first half demolished Huddersfield so brutally that the second half was a literal stroll, either side of Illan Meslier’s handling error throwing Michal Helik a tap-in and Huddersfield a bone. Edwards was hooked at the interval.
Farke, who tries not to blow smoke where he shouldn’t, said Rutter was “unplayable” in the first half, which was not far wrong. “There’s always space for improvement,” Farke said. “He’s a young player and if he would be perfect in all areas, we would have to accept that Real Madrid would buy him for £150million. Thank God it’s not the case and he can grow and develop. But his potential is outstanding. He can be some player, one day.”
In the league, he is frightening. He is already some player, a burgeoning crowd favourite and a footballer who, like Adel Taarabt at Queens Park Rangers many years ago, keeps alive the tradition of England’s feisty, intensely structured second division having room for the odd wizard and free spirit.
Leeds are not a one-man team. The changes to Farke’s defence in the second half on Saturday, an injury to Joe Rodon draining some of their poise, served as a reminder of that. But Rutter is one of those assets that money cannot buy in the Championship, and toiling right-backs cannot live with.
(Top photo: George Wood/Getty Images)
