Fabian Hurzeler sends on Georginio Rutter for his late fireworks at Sunderland (Image: Richard Parkes)
Fabian Hurzeler sends on Georginio Rutter for his late fireworks at Sunderland (Image: Richard Parkes)
Georginio Rutter believes he can be hard to work with at times.
The intentions are good but he is not happy if he is not performing his best and he can be inconsistent.
But Fabian Hurzeler certainly loved what he saw in training ahead of the trip to Sunderland.
And he was keen to get him into the action, even if he had to send on Lewis Dunk for Charalampos Kostoulas.
Rutter would have been the obvious replacement for the young Greek striker but Dunk had to go on because of the unjust red card for Pascal Struijk.
At that stage, Rutter said he felt he would not get on the pitch.
But, even at 1-0 up with ten men, Hurzeler sent on his striker, along with Jaouen Hadjam, and it resulted in the killer second goal when other teams might have been hanging on to what they had.
Speaking ahead of a likely start against Kauno Zalgiris, Rutter said: “I think I'm hard to work with sometimes. I'm a bit like, I'm not happy every time because I want the best for me.
“I'm ambitious and in training, for example, I'm not consistent.
“This week I was very consistent and he said, ‘That’s the Georgi I want to see’.
“And we have a good discussion and since this I'm a bit more into it.
“For a player who is injured, I was very happy for the team that we win, of course, but when you're a player and you're injured and you can't help the team, you know, it’s a bit frustrating.
“I wanted to help the team as well.
“So that's why he was speaking with me and I explained to him it's a bit hard for a player.
“But I say, at the same time, I'm very happy for them.
“I'm going give everything when I come back so that was what I tried to do.
“I'm not a trainer who, I think, for them gives 100% every time.
“I try to do my best but every footballer is different and I try to do my best and change the mentality as well.
“That's why that's why I had this ten minutes, I think, during the game against Sunderland.
“He said before the game, ‘You deserve to play’.
“I did and I had an assist and he was very happy and he said, ‘That's the Georgie I want to see on the pitch’.”
Rutter recognises he had a tough second season although he says his stats other than the headline numbers of goals and assists were still good.
He added: “This season, I want to be like the first season.
“Of course. I try to change something as well on me because I was not always perfect.
“That's what I need to work on. I need to work on what the team asks as well for a player like me.
“Before I was more like, ‘I want to play like I want to play’, and now I'm more like what the team is going to give me to play with them.
“Aston Villa, for example, I think the first game I had a good game, even if I didn't score.
“But I was part of the team and last year I didn't see a game like this for me.
“So I'm on the good side, on the good way to perform.
“I think the team as well know that I had a good season, bad season, and there was always here for me to help.
“I'm ready for this season and it's going to be better than last year.”
Ultimately, though, he knows he will be judged by many on goals.
He said: “You know me, everywhere, the manager wants to put me on the team, I will do my best.
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“I think it depends which position I play but, if I can score some goals, I think it's better because last year I didn't score many goals or assists.
“But I need to be more consistent on it.
“Everybody says, like, I'm a player that just needs to score.
“They say you can be good on the ball, you can run, but the more important for a striker is to score.
“And that's what people say to me, so I need to score more and be more in the box, like they say.”