The Portuguese has set his sights firmly on building a culture of relentless competitiveness ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Championship leaders Coventry City.
The visit of the table-toppers provides both a formidable challenge and a measuring stick for a Swansea side determined to finish the campaign strongly.
Coventry, managed by Frank Lampard, have set the pace in the EFL Championship this season, combining organisation and attacking quality to open up a seven-point gap at the summit.
But for Matos - who has been boosted by the decision of top scorer Zan Vipotnik to sign a new four-year contract - the focus is less on league positions and more on mentality.
“I think it’s the mindset that I want, and I think it’s the mindset that our players want as well,” he said.
“Because if we want to build a culture, we need to build a culture with the right values. And for me, the right value in sports is that you need to compete in each game.”
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With Swansea no longer in serious promotion play-off contention, the closing weeks of the season could easily drift into irrelevance.
Matos is determined to ensure that does not happen. He has been explicit in rejecting any suggestion his players might already be “on the beach”.
“No, I don’t want it and 100% they don’t want as well,” he said. “The message and the mentality that needs to be is that you need to push yourself, is to squeeze everything out of the season.”
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That philosophy has been shaped by his time working at the highest level.
Matos spent five years on the coaching staff at Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp, a period that partly overlapped with Lampard’s managerial spell at Everton in 2022-23, when the Merseyside derby ended in a goalless draw at Goodison Park before Liverpool won 2-0 at Anfield.
While Matos diplomatically sidestepped discussing Everton directly, his respect for Lampard is clear.
Saturday’s contest will see two coaches who have crossed paths in the same football ecosystem now competing from opposite dugouts.
“I have a lot of respect. Frank is a really good manager,” Matos said.
“As a player, there’s not even any discussion about his career. I got to know him now more since he’s a coach and I have a lot of respect.”
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Lampard’s Coventry side have been one of the Championship’s stand-out teams this season, and Matos acknowledged the scale of the task.
“You see how good Coventry are. So all credit to him to build that kind of mentality and that kind of organisation,” he added.
“He’s top of the table with a good distance between him and the other clubs as well, with a good team, with a good organisation, playing good football.”
Yet the Swansea head coach is not approaching the fixture with caution alone. Instead, he sees it as an opportunity to demonstrate the standards he is trying to instill.
“We will be there as well to compete and to show that that’s the kind of team we want to compete with,” he said. “We want to put the best version of ourselves.”
There is added positivity around the club this week with the news that striker Vipotnik has committed his long-term future to Swansea.
The Championship’s leading scorer has signed a new contract running until the summer of 2030, underlining both his importance to the side and the club’s ambition to retain its key assets.
The 24-year-old Slovenia international has enjoyed a breakthrough campaign, scoring 17 league goals in 36 appearances and 19 in all competitions.
That return marks a dramatic improvement on his debut season in English football, when he managed just seven goals.
“I am really enjoying my football here,” Vipotnik said.
“The support I have from the coaching staff, my team-mates and supporters is incredible. I want to make sure we finish the season as strongly as possible, and I hope I can continue to help the team.”
His form has not gone unnoticed, with interest from elsewhere in Europe, but Swansea have moved decisively to secure his services.
It is a statement of intent and a boost ahead of facing Coventry, whose own attacking threat is spearheaded by Vipotnik’s closest rival in the scoring charts, Haji Wright.
For Matos, the striker’s new deal is another piece in the puzzle of building the culture he demands.
Results in the final weeks may not define Swansea’s season in terms of league position, but they will shape the standards expected going forward.
“And for each season, you need to squeeze the best out of it and not accepting or just walking through the season,” he said.
“This club needs to have a commitment to winning and that commitment needs to be in every game and in every situation.”
Saturday’s test against the leaders offers a chance to put those words into action.
