The Whites fell to a fourth defeat in their last five league outings as West Ham United send them back empty-handed from the London Stadium by registering a 2-0 win on Monday night.
Leeds shot-stopper Illan Meslier could only watch on as Hammers defender Craig Dawson’s thumping header from Aaron Cresswell’s corner flew past him.
Marcelo Bielsa’s men have been under scrutiny this season for their poor defending from dead ball situations and it has been suggested Leeds being a relatively smaller side in terms of size compared to other top flight teams is a reason.
However, former Leeds man Matteo insists he does not buy into lack of size being a reason for their poor defending and stressed they have been caught out at times as they are not good enough at their own end of the pitch.
“Leeds didn’t play that badly [against West Ham] but we have just got to get better at defending set-pieces”, Matteo wrote in his Yorkshire Evening Post column.
“I know it looks as though there is a big height difference between the two teams but I can’t buy into that.
“If you get done, you get done and it’s basically your responsibility to defend and defend well.
“We do that at times but are we expanding so much energy trying to get forward all the time that we sometimes forget to defend?”
Leeds will have to step up their game at the weekend as they are set to host a Chelsea side that are unbeaten in their last nine top flight outings.
