Former Leeds United striker Noel Whelan has lauded the partnership of Whites defenders Pontus Jansson and Kyle Bartley, and feels their experience has been key in plugging a leaky defence.
Signing defenders in the summer was priority for Leeds, and Garry Monk roped in Kyle Bartley and Jansson to strengthen his defensive resources at Elland Road.
Jansson has been receiving widespread plaudits for adding leadership and quality to Leeds’ defence since his arrival, but Whelan feels Bartley deserves equal credit for forming a robust partnership with the Swedish international.
Whelan wrote in his column for the Yorkshire Evening Post: “At the back, it’s another clean sheet [on Saturday] and while we can talk about Pontus Jansson, there’s Kyle Bartley as well.
“Let’s not dismiss the job that he is doing because I think the two of them together are solid and we have got a really good spine in the team at the moment, all the way through the middle.”
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Ahead of Tuesday night's visit to Bristol City, the former Leeds striker is feeling confident about their chances of winning five on the trot as he believes a strong defence has added a different dimension to Monk’s team, led by the duo of Jansson and Bartley.
“We have got another test tomorrow night at Bristol City but we look like a football side and we look like we are not going to concede goals like we did last season.
“We are not making the same mistakes on the ball that we did last season when we were getting punished. We have got two very experienced centre halves that are fantastic for the club.”
In the current run of four wins on the bounce, Leeds have conceded just once and have kept three consecutive clean sheets.
