USMNT star Brenden Aaronson trying too hard to be ‘perfect’ as American midfielder gets ‘simple’ advice at Leeds

Boss Daniel Farke has acknowledged that Aaronson is struggling for a spark but has still praised his "relentless work rate" and urged his midfielder to take the easy option to play his way back into form.

Aaronson has scored eight goals for leaders Leeds this season but has only found the net in one of his last 11 appearances. Farke insists he is relaxed about the situation, with his team still having won five of their last six matches ahead of Sunday's game at Portsmouth.

Farke said: "Sometimes you get the feeling he tries too much. It's quite normal that players have a difficult spell. I would say each and every player has two, three or four games of a weaker spell during a season of 46 games so I wouldn't interpret too much into it. What he still offers is more or less relentless workrate.

"At the moment he's finding it a little bit difficult. The natural easiness is a little bit away from what it was in the games before but it's always the same, don't interpret it too much into it, just keep going, concentrate on the basic stuff, work for the team.

"There was a feeling that he's sometimes concentrating a bit too much on always having the perfect choice and the perfect complicated pass because he wants to make things happen. "So the message is ease up, keep it simple and make sure we keep the ball. Don't always play the most complicated pass. The end products, goals and assists will come back."

Leeds can open up a three-point gap at the top of the Championship by beating Portsmouth on Sunday, before playing Millwall and QPR this week.