Leeds conceded four goals against Liverpool earlier this season, while Manchester United put six goals past the Whites in December, with Marcelo Bielsa seeing his side’s exposed defensively and the result shaking faith in the defence.
The Yorkshire giants have stern tests of their backline coming up as they play Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United over the next three games.
Whelan however is not concerned about Leeds’ defence struggling as earlier in the campaign as he believes they have vastly improved at the back and has ruled out an Old Trafford style collapse; he does think though the Whites need to be smart in how they approach the matches.
“Defensively we’ve been a lot more assured recently. I don’t think it’s going to be the same as what happened at Manchester United”, he said on BBC Radio Leeds after the win over Sheffield United.
“I think we’ve learned a little bit from that in that we can be attacking, but you’ve got to find that fine balance as well.
“Against teams like Sheffield United, you can probably afford to give the ball away in certain areas and you might get hurt maybe twice out of ten times.
“Against your Man Utds, your Man Citys, Liverpools, you give the ball away in the wrong area and probably nine out of ten times you get punished.
“So we’ve got to be really clever about how we go about the games”, he added.
Leeds’ 2-1 win over Sheffield United has moved them on to 42 points in the Premier League and banished any relegation worries, allowing the club to plan for next season.
