Farke must immediately ditch 3/10 Leeds man after Saints shocker

And so the lottery that is the Championship playoffs beckon for Leeds United, with events elsewhere seeing the Yorkshire side’s hopes of securing automatic promotion extinguished – Ipswich Town booking their place in next season’s Premier League courtesy of a 2-0 win over Huddersfield Town.

In the end, the Tractor Boys’ result was immaterial for those back at Elland Road as Daniel Farke’s side meekly slipped to defeat at the hands of Southampton, a first-half tap-in from Will Smallbone clinching proceedings after earlier efforts from Adam Armstrong and Joel Piroe.

Now set to face a two-legged shootout with Norwich City in the battle for a Wembley berth, the Whites hardly have the best momentum heading into those pivotal fixtures after winning just one of their last six in the league – four of which ended in defeat.

The onus will be on Farke to put things right against his former employers by shaking things up, with Georginio Rutter – among others – potentially fearing for their place in the side moving forward.

Georginio Rutter’s stats vs Southampton

It’s fair to say that the Frenchman wasn’t the worst performer on the day – we’ll come onto that – but the club’s record signing certainly didn’t help matters after looking off the boil once again in his number ten berth.

The former Hoffenheim man does boast a remarkable tally of six goals and 17 assists in the Championship this season, although the last of those contributions came against Millwall back in mid-March.

As LeedsLive’s Beren Cross noted, it was the ‘latest episode in a poor series since his hernia surgery’, with Rutter unsurprisingly hooked on the hour mark following what was a truly ineffectual outing.

At his best the creative hub in the side – as his assist record can attest to – the mercurial talent was restricted to just 29 touches in all, losing the ball on 11 occasions and failing to provide a single key pass.

Not only that, but the 22-year-old was also found wanting off the ball after winning just four of his 11 total duels, with his all-round woes perhaps only overshadowed by the limp display of one of his teammates – Junior Firpo.

Junior Firpo’s game in numbers vs Saints

After an injury-hit first few seasons in English football, Firpo – to his credit – has found a new lease of life under Farke of late, helping to ease the concerns surrounding what has been a problem position for the club at left-back.

Seven assists from that full-back berth represent an encouraging campaign on the whole for the 27-year-old, although it was undoubtedly a day to forget against the Saints, as he simply withered on the big occasion.

As Cross – who awarded him a measly 3/10 match rating – noted after the game, Firpo ‘always looked like the weak point’ from the off, having been caught somewhat sleeping for Armstrong’s opener with Southampton players simply queuing up behind him at the back post.

While his fault for that early effort is perhaps up for debate, there can be nowhere to hide from the defender’s “embarrassing” lapse for the visitors’ second – as Cross stated on Twitter – having been beaten by Kyle Walker-Peters’ far too easily after assuming the ball had gone out of play.

On the face of it, his performance may have looked rather solid having won nine of his 12 ground duels, yet his involvement in those two key moments will likely have had Farke tearing his out.

The question now remains whether Firpo should keep his place for when the playoffs commence, with there certainly justification for Farke to immediately and ruthlessly drop the struggling star to the bench against the Canaries.