This season has been filled with adversity and frustration, and our recent performances haven't exactly been classics. But Liverpool's seven-game unbeaten run and four-game win streak gave Reds supporters reason for optimism heading into the New Years Day fixture at Anfield.
The fact we were hosting Leeds, the 16th-placed team in the league — and a team we owed a bloody nose following the nightmare ending at their ground on December 6 — offered even more hope that Liverpool would win in convincing fashion and start off the new year on the right foot.
Instead, the Reds stumbled to a 0-0 tie. It was the kind of uninspired performance that said, "You know that adversity and frustration? Expect more in 2026."
Everything you don't want in a football match
As an American footy fan and former player, I'm used to standing up for the sport.
You know the usual digs. Too boring. Too slow. Not enough scoring. Too much laying around on the ground and crying to the ref.
Games like the one against Leeds are the ones that make defending football difficult.
Leeds visited Anfield with arguably their biggest game of the season, Manchester United at home, coming only four days later. With that in mind, plus the fact that a point at Anfield is a good point, manager Daniel Farke rested red hot Dominic Calvert-Lewin — who'd scored at least one goal in six consecutive games — until the 70th minute.
He set his team up in a low block and dared Liverpool to break it down. They couldn't.
Thus, the game became the stereotypical snooze-fest that guys who prefer baseball and basketball and American football love to mock.
Leeds players went down easily and stayed down for as long as they could. When they took possession, which they had less than a third of the time, they looked to counter with speed or earn a long throw or set piece. When they lost possession, they happily settled back into their shape and allowed Liverpool to pass side to side in their final third.
Despite 68% of the ball, Liverpool mustered just four shots on goal and only two or three big-ish chances. Most of the game, particularly the second half, was a futile exercise — progressing the ball too slowly, then attempting to weave through or around a stubborn Leeds defense without the necessary speed, quality, or imagination.
Neither team took risks: the leading cause of scoreless draws
We saw what looked like a safety-first approach from both sets of eleven, which reflects much more poorly on Liverpool than Leeds. It's hard to say whether this was Arne Slot's intention for this game, though.
On one hand, it makes sense that his first priority would be continued defensive solidity. Since losing to City, Forest, and PSV consecutively, conceding ten goals in the process, we've gone eight games unbeaten and conceded just six goals. That's progress.
On the other hand, we've drawn three of those eight games. Three of the five wins were by a single goal, the other two wins were by two goals, and every game has felt nervy until full time.
We're keeping the ball out of our own net more effectively, yes, but we aren't scoring enough either. It's a brutal change from last season — something Slot himself is undoubtedly aware of, and something you'd assume he'd be looking to fix ASAP.
Liverpool’s summer spending spree was supposed to make them more dynamic, more potent, more unpredictable as an attacking force, but the reality has been very different.
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) January 2, 2026
They have scored 17 fewer league goals than at the same stage last season. #LFC https://t.co/XKSRwfbExI
It's worth considering the players at Slot's disposal may not be able to pose the type of attacking threat Liverpool fans crave and, frankly, have come to expect.
Liverpool's starting forward line really only included one forward, Hugo Ekitike. Florian Wirtz, a traditional 10, started on the left. Jeremie Frimpong started on the right — and though he was my personal MOTM, following up his great performance versus Wolves with another encouraging display of his directness and dangerous delivery, he doesn't have the attacking quality we need in a nailed-on member of our front three.
Slot's three best attacking options off the bench — a bench that included the likes of Calvin Ramsay and Wellity Lucky, who have four senior club appearances between them — were Federico Chiesa, Cody Gakpo, and Rio Ngumoha. They all came on, but only Rio, a 17-year-old, showed the urgency and quality required during his cameo.
I won't let Slot off the hook, though. He has to do a better job injecting life into our style of play. We have to be able to break down opponents who aren't interested in an open, up-and-back game by playing quicker, moving more off the ball, and dragging defenders where they don't want to go. Personnel and collective +fitness may limit how well a team does this, but any team can attempt it.
Whether our players weren't instructed to be braver in the final third or simply weren't able to do it, the product on the field Thursday night wasn't good enough. I understand Slot doesn't have Salah or Isak right now. I understand he's more interested in stopping the bleeding than entertainment after our miserable October and November.
But while playing practically and cautiously has kept us out of the losing column for a month, it will eventually cost us. Not losing isn't the same as being a good football team. Whether it comes in the form of a strategic shift, incoming transfers, you name it, something has to give us more cutting edge up top.