Leeds have earned plaudits for their high-octane football in the Premier League this season, but Bielsa’s side went into the current international break on the back of consecutive 4-1 defeats, against Leicester City and Crystal Palace, respectively.
Their leaky backline has been a concern for the Whites in the top flight, having conceded 17 goals in the span of eight games.
And Matteo feels the international break has arrived at the right time for Leeds as Bielsa can now go back to the drawing board and look to sort his team’s defensive woes out to ensure better security at the back for the rest of the campaign.
The ex-Leeds star went on to stress that the Argentine tactician should give special attention to fine tuning Leeds’ style of play to get more numbers back behind the ball when they are not in possession.
“I think Marcelo Bielsa, with all his knowledge, will be keen to make defensive improvements during this period because although we’ve been great to watch and had lovely compliments, he won’t want to ship so many goals”, Matteo wrote in his Yorkshire Evening Post column.
“For defenders it must be a nightmare at times, because we’re so attacking.
“The first thing I was thinking about as a defender was ‘what if’ – what if we lose the ball – and Leeds don’t seem to have a ‘what if’.
“No matter who is playing at Thorp Arch in these two weeks, the emphasis has to be on when we lose the ball and transition, getting numbers back.
“The fitness isn’t a problem; it’s just doing the right things.
“We conceded four against Leicester and four against Crystal Palace and, as a defender, I would be devastated.”
Leeds are currently 15th in the league standings, with ten points from eight outings, and will resume their top flight campaign on 22nd November when they play host to Arsenal at Elland Road.
