Dominic Matteo tells Leeds United to break habit and become more ‘ruthless’

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Leeds United conceded yet another costly late goal as they drew 1-1 with Derby County in the Championship yesterday. The Whites had several opportunities to seal victory after Max Lowe’s own goal had given them the lead. However, Patrick Bamford’s wastefulness and Mateusz Klich’s missed penalty kept Derby in the game. 

Then, the inevitable happened. Derby scored a last-minute equaliser through Chris Martin. It is the third time late goals have cost Leeds at Elland Road this season. Nottingham Forest salvaged a late draw earlier this term whilst Wayne Routledge scored a 90th-minute winner for Swansea in Leeds’ only home defeat. 

One former Leeds United player was certainly disappointed at the result. Dominic Matteo played at Elland Road for four years after joining the club from Liverpool in the year 2000. He was a key member of the Leeds team that made the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2000-01 and was named team captain after Rio Ferdinand joined Manchester United in 2002. 

He made it clear on Twitter that Leeds need to break this habit of failing to put teams away of they are to sustain a promotion push this season. 

TBR’s View

Matteo is completely right. Based on performances, Leeds United should be six points clear of second-placed Preston right now. That is how the league would look if they had claimed a draw with Swansea and the wins over Forest and Derby their performances deserved. 

Leeds had chances they didn’t take in all three of those games and whilst they remain top of the Championship there should be a clear gap between them and the rest. 

Hopefully, come the end of the season, this early season lack of edge won’t come back to haunt them.