The Swansea head coach has insisted his side must become a team that is prepared to fight for control of matches from the opening whistle.
The Swans slipped to a 2-1 defeat at Stoke City on Saturday, a result that leaves them hovering just above the relegation zone and marks a sixth loss in their last eight league games.
While there were encouraging spells at the bet365 Stadium, Matos made it clear that competing well for periods is no longer enough.
After goals from Ben Pearson and Sorba Thomas had put Stoke in control, Swansea rallied late on through a Zan Vipotnik strike, but the comeback never quite gathered enough momentum to force an equaliser.
For Matos, the key issue lay not just in moments, but in mindset.
"We need to become this team that wants to compete against everyone," said the Portuguese boss.
"Like I said in the beginning, there are going to be ups and downs, especially in terms of results.
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"What we get today is performance. Of course it's frustrating because of the result.
"What we need to take from the game is that we need to start becoming this team that from the beginning wants to grab the game for us.
Swansea were punished by two outstanding moments of quality from the hosts.
Pearson opened the scoring just before half-time with a spectacular long-range strike, before Thomas doubled the lead on the hour with a fine finish.
Although Swansea responded with spirit, Matos felt the damage had already been done.
"I'm disappointed not to get something from the game. In the second half, we came back into it. Of course we wanted to take something out of the game. When you come to Stoke, you need to grab the game from the beginning.
"We had opportunities, but when we were high up the pitch, we wanted to be there for more time, and then we suffered.
"Then, in the second half we suffered when we were trying to change a few things. We tried to get back in the game, we scored to make it 2-1 and then had another chance but, of course, we didn't get the result we wanted."
Despite the frustration, Matos acknowledged the effort shown by his players, particularly after falling two goals behind.
However, he stressed that effort must now be matched with a sharper competitive edge across 90 minutes.
"We need to keep improving, and we need to keep going. We need to start to be a team that really wants to compete against everyone in every place we go.
“For that, we need to do a lot of things right. We've a few other things we need to keep improving, but the Championship is about points and about getting the results, and that's what we need to get as well.
"How we do it? With training, focus and concentration in the next game, that's what we need to do from now on."
The defeat was Swansea’s third in five matches since Matos took charge, underlining the scale of the task facing the Portuguese coach.
While performances have shown signs of progress, results have yet to follow consistently as this defeat followed back-to-back home victories.
Attention now turns quickly to next Friday’s home clash with Wrexham, a fixture Matos sees as a chance for his side to show they have absorbed the lesson.
"We have one week to train and then we play Wrexham. That's what we need to focus on now.
"We need to keep pushing and keep improving. Training helps a lot, I think it's the most important thing."
Stoke boss Mark Robins, meanwhile, praised his own side’s resilience and quality after a challenging run of fixtures, highlighting the confidence boost provided by the victory.
"We've been playing pretty well but it can have an impact on confidence. It's part of the game, it's part of the Championship and we've played some really good teams, three away from home. It's frustrating when you're not winning but I think we've been pretty good."
Robins also lauded the impact of his match-winners.
"The two goals were absolutely outstanding. I was glad Pearo shot because normally he'll take it out of his feet and play it wide or whatever. He has doubts about himself but it's a great effort, a really clean strike and a brilliant finish.
"Sorba is unbelievable because he keeps going. He's not had a breather, I can't get him one. He's been a goal threat in most games and he keeps churning it out because he's been so good for us and we'd miss him greatly if he were to come out of the team."
