Incredible example Leeds United can learn from, warning and Georginio Rutter must: David Prutton

I went to the Leeds against Southampton game which was an awful game of football. It's not one that will live long in the memory and the prettiest part about it was the three points. The rest of it is hopefully firmly filed in the back of the brain and is never going to get brought up again.

The subsequent games away at Fulham and Chelsea followed a relatively similar pattern to the ones of late which is not being clinical enough. Javi has spoken about what they have been working on in training which is being clinical, creating chances and being in positions where you can upset the opposition. But let's not take away who Leeds have played in their last two games.

Three points against Southampton were an absolute necessity given Southampton's proximity to Leeds in the table, Fulham have had a wonderful season and will finish very strongly and Chelsea at some stage will pull their fingers out.

But with Leeds there has been nothing earth shattering in either regard in the sense of anything overtly poor or anything overtly kind of mind blowing and I think that's reflected in Javi's take on where he finds the team. It's a team that is capable in the Premier League but is just not capable of scoring goals at this moment in time.

Leeds have only scored one goal in their last five games which was the one that came against Southampton from Junior Firpo in a game that was terrible. That's a stat in itself - who scored the only goal in the last five games? Junior Firpo. You'd have got long odds taking bets on that.

Rodrigo and Luis Sinisterra were back in training this week which is absolutely massive for Leeds. But the topic of where the goals come from for Leeds is something that's been discussed in these columns for a long time. Do Leeds chip in enough from set pieces as the set pieces against Southampton were terrible. Have they got an aerial threat or do they have players that can tower above defenders and score goals? Not from what I have seen. So that means that anything that is created in open play is even more important.

Leeds have shown on enough occasions this season what they are capable of and you are probably looking all the way up the table to people like Crystal Palace in 12th for teams that are involved in the relegation scrap.

The fact that Leeds have got a game in hand on teams such as Wolves and Everton is a big, big deal but Southampton picked up a victory last weekend and Bournemouth leading 2-0 at Arsenal would have had everybody else wobbling.

For Leeds United fans, it's going to be like this between now and the end of the season and akin to what we saw last season with that first season back being a relative anomaly in their return to the Premier League.

The club's new record signing Georginio Rutter led the line at Chelsea with both Rodrigo and also Patrick Bamford out injured and I understand that every single transfer or recruitment decision that you make can't be done with just the here and now in mind. You have got to play the short, long and medium term with bringing players in.

But if you are looking at it in a properly cynical way then Leeds have spent that amount of money on a player who could be playing Championship football next season and I don't think that would make much sense to fans.

Maybe fans with a slightly broader view would think that if he hits the ground running in the second tier and gets us straight back up then great. But I can't think for one second that he has been bought with that as the primary driver at all.

I've seen bits and bobs with him on the pitch and I still think Leeds are trying to work out what his game is which I think is understandable and what he's going to bring to the side. Having seen him in the flesh, I didn't realise what a sizable fella he is. You would look at him physically and say that he would be suited to how robust you need to be in the Premier League. But the proof is in the pudding with regards to how they go about utilising him in the right possible way.

The other side of it is that signing on fees and transfer fees can be a bit of an arbitrary thing. The player himself has got nothing to do with that yet when you judge the player and discuss the player that always comes into it. It's a bit like how much money a footballer earns when he acts like a plonker.

With Rutter, you'd like to think that the teething problems or not getting the best out of him needs to stop sooner rather than later having spent that amount of money. I've got no inner take on Leeds' recruitment, I am not party to the debates that go on with that, nor would I know how you go about signing a player for Leeds and nor should I. Therefore it would be remiss of me to pass complete judgement on that.

But I just think that if you are Leeds United fan and you see your team having a very testing time then someone you bring in for that type of money has to come in and hit the ground running. Whether that means that he does it at the weekend, great, if it's a case of he's now had a handful of games and now he's got it. But not just him but the team as a whole in an attacking sense needs to click sooner rather than later.

Facing Brighton today will be very tough. They battered a poor West Ham side last weekend and whether that's a good barometer or not remains to be seen but it's quite obviously shown that they know how to put teams to the sword with confidence.

I watched them against Southampton on Boxing Day and they were brilliant, absolutely brilliant and you can't look at where they are in the league and be overtly surprised. I think Roberto De Zerbi has done a fantastic job taking over from Graham Potter and Brighton are a terrific example of what progression in the Premier League looks like, even keeping the likes of Lewis Dunk, Adam Webster and Solly March.

I have watched Solly March in League One with Charlton and I didn't see him doing what he is doing so more power to him. But if we're having a bit of an example then whoever picks up Kaoru Mitoma, Moises Caicedo, Pascal Gross, Alexis Mac Allister, players such as those, that is wonderful recruitment and there are also other players that they have signed or who have moved on since, players such as Marc Cucurella who have then gone on to big things since. Now they want £70m for Caicedo. This is one of Leeds United's toughest matches. They have played Chelsea away and Fulham away in the cup but this is as tough as it gets for Leeds.

Alexis Mac Allister is now a World Cup winner yet he cost Brighton around £7m which in Premier League terms is a drop in the ocean and Leeds are facing an ultimate example now of how to build not just the team but the club as well year on year. It was little Brighton that got into the Premier League under Chris Hughton and then it changed and it was terrible.

Then Graham Potter came and you suddenly started thinking this is really good. Then Graham goes and you think 'where they do go from here' but De Zerbi has kept them ticking along. I've watched football there and seen Leeds there and I've played against Brighton when they were at the Withdean with a running track around it. It was as far away from the cosmopolitan grandeur of the AMEX that they've got now as you could get. It's a real testament to what Tony Bloom has done there and how he's gone about doing it in that possible way.

Just because Leeds are a traditional, big powerhouse of English football, doesn't mean that they've gotten a divine right to be in the Premier League. They've got to work at it, they've got to constantly improve and evolve and stay with the times and Brighton are a great example of that.

If you're looking in that particular respect then Brentford are another one that sticks out and Fulham. There were question marks about how they would stay in the Premier League and they are doing that with bells on.

Newcastle are slightly different because of the investment that's gone into that and then the rest of the top bunch is Liverpool, Spurs, Man U, Man City and Arsenal who are Premier League powerhouses and you can't come away from any of that.

But there are examples in there and I am sure Leeds are constantly monitoring what they do as it's not just the players that are under pressure. Everybody involved in that football club and that hierarchy is under pressure. I think Brighton are a great example but then there's then a lot of things that Leeds do that Brighton could take a note of too.