Viduka: Midfield must improve

Mark Viduka admits Leeds must make a dramatic improvement if they are to get their Premiership campaign up and running at home to Southampton tonight.

Viduka was less than impressed with his club’s display on Saturday when they lost the lead and went down to a 2-1 defeat at Tottenham.

And despite recently making his peace with boss Peter Reid, the Australian will hardly have endeared himself to some of his team-mates with his latest outburst.

Viduka told the club’s official website: “We have some good players in midfield who can get hold of the ball but they didn’t do that.

“We were just looking for the long ball up front with not much support.”

And Viduka underlined the importance of securing all three points against the Saints and avoiding stretching their winless run to three games.

He added: “We have got to go out there to win it. Southampton caused us lots of problems last season but we have to forget that. It’s one I think we have to win just to get ourselves going.”

Boss Peter Reid might have a central defensive headache with both Dominic Matteo and Lucas Radebe facing late tests.

Matteo has a swollen ankle and Radebe’s long-troublesome knee is sore from the match at White Hart Lane. Reid may also hand a full debut to Jermaine Pennant, who replaced Jason Wilcox on Saturday.

Reid was disappointed with his side’s defensive performance at White Hart Lane and knows his side must improve to combat the considerable threat of Kevin Phillips.

Reid knows more about Phillips than most from their time at Sunderland and he said: “Kevin Phillips is one of those strikers who can get all kinds of goals.

“He has got the whole array and he likes playing off a big man. He loved playing alongside Niall Quinn at Sunderland and now his partnership with James Beattie looks like a potent force.

“We want to go out and attack but defensively we have got to be concentrating all the time because they’ve got a couple of good strikers there.”