How the national media reacted as Liverpool are held to a goalless draw with Leeds United at Anfield on New Year's Day
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - JANUARY 01: Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, looks on prior to the Premier League match between Liverpool and Leeds United at Anfield on January 01, 2026 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)
Arne Slot looks on prior to the Premier League match between Liverpool and Leeds United at Anfield on January 01, 2026
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(Image: Jan Kruger/Getty Images)
Liverpool's 2026 kicked off in the most mundane fashion possible as they were held to a goalless draw with Leeds United at Anfield. So much for Happy New Year.
The ECHO, as always, was at the game to run the rule over proceedings. You can catch all of our match content here: Match verdict; post-game analysis; the player ratings, and on-the-whistle reaction. You can also find out what Arne Slot and Daniel Farke made of it all too, such is our exhaustive match-day coverage...
Our colleagues from the national media were also on hand to give their own considered takes. Here's what they made of a disappointing draw for the Premier League champions.
Paul Joyce, of The Times, pens: "Arne Slot has argued in recent weeks that judgment should be reserved on Liverpool’s season until the halfway point of the campaign.
"Now it is here, the only plausible verdict is that his side remain far, far away from where he hoped they would be by now both in terms of position and the manner of their tepid performances.
"Amid the endless huff and puff it was difficult to recall the Leeds United goalkeeper Lucas Perri being overly exerted, while only an offside call prevented the visiting striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, held back as a substitute, from scoring for the seventh successive Premier League game in the closing stages.
"Liverpool’s unbeaten run may have been stretched to eight games, and they remain in fourth position, but it was a joyless occasion for the home spectators and a difficult watch."
The Daily Mail's Lewis Steele says: "Those around the country nursing hangovers after seeing 2025 out in style might have wondered if Liverpool had also spent New Year’s Eve with a night on the tiles.
"The Premier League champions were also slow, lethargic and lacking creativity as Leeds, for the second time in the last month, registered a point against them.
"This one was much less entertaining than the 3-3 reverse and many around the country may have drifted off to sleep this time rather than the box-office, edge-of-the-seat thriller at Elland Road. And that is the problem with Liverpool and Arne Slot right now. It is all a bit boring.
"One positive we can note is that they would have gone on to lose this match a month or so ago, when they won just four of 15 games in a torrid run through autumn.
"They have ‘stopped the bleeding’ to reference a quote from Steven Gerrard about them last month and we must admit they are much tighter defensively. Gone are the days of shipping goals for fun against PSV Eindhoven and Nottingham Forest, 4-1 and 3-0 defeats.
"Yet in doing so, Slot has just exposed a problem elsewhere. He has fixed the leak but diverted the issue elsewhere.
"The head coach was never in threat of losing his job and retained internal backing during that shoddy run but a significant number of fans turned against him during that but this result – and display – will have done nothing to assuage the critics’ thoughts."
The Mirror's Daniel Orme writes: "For all of the firepower at their disposal, Liverpool's attacking play against Leeds was their undoing. Throughout the 90 minutes, they only managed to generate three shots on target.
"That is simply not good enough for a side aiming to secure a spot in the Champions League come the end of the season. A question remains over Mo Salah's future at Anfield, while Alexander Isak's injury looks set to keep him out for a while.
"That could then tempt Arne Slot to dip into the transfer market for more attacking recruits. Of course, Leeds would [have] loved to have secured victory at Anfield. But it's tough to suggest that a point is not a positive result. Daniel Farke's men are now seven points clear of the drop zone.
"There's still work left to do for the Yorkshire club to seal their spot in the league for next season but they're in an excellent place in which to do that."
Jason Burt, who was there for Daily Telegraph, writes: "Was Hugo Ekitike guilty of the miss of the season so far? The 23-year-old has been an undoubted success in a difficult campaign for Liverpool but there was no getting away from the fact that his wayward header – when he had to score – summed up how toothless they were in a goalless draw at home to Leeds United.
"That shut-out for both sides was the first, in his 84th game in charge, registered under Arne Slot who has promised open, exciting attacking football but unfortunately delivered a stodgy, slow start to 2026.
"The head coach shook his head on the sideline as his team laboured and at what he perceived was diving from Leeds. But Slot also knew and accepted that Liverpool lacked a cutting edge and they lacked urgency. Asked what was missing, he said: 'A goal. That is the most simple answer.'
"So Liverpool were not brave enough. They had 19 shots and an xG – expected goals – of 1.96, which suggested they should have scored although it did not feel they came that close. Also how much of that was accounted for by Ekitike’s glaring miss?
"It is eight matches unbeaten for Liverpool but it still feels like a slog and they will come away from this one deeply frustrated. With the transfer window open there has been so much talk of their need for another centre-half. But they absolutely also require another forward."
And in the ECHO's verdict: "The bare statistics of this one will say Liverpool were able to extend an unbeaten run to eight games. But, like the 3-3 draw with the same opponents just a few weeks ago, this goalless affair with Leeds United will feel like a defeat.
"How could it not? Having seen third-place Aston Villa swatted aside at Arsenal and Chelsea drop points and then sack their manager this week, the opportunity to move further from fifth and closer to third went begging here.
"And it is entirely fair to ask, as the momentum built by a solid if unspectacular - or hugely convincing run - is now halted, when are performances going to become more fulsome from this eye-wateringly expensive squad?
"It's difficult now, even as the second half of the term gets underway, to accurately articulate or define what Liverpool's style is. For all the money spent reshaping a title-winning squad, that has to fall on head coach Slot.
"The Reds mustered just one shot on target in the second period, which came from Dominik Szoboszlai’s long-range effort and the sight of Ekitike, the only striker available for Slot, wide on the right attempting to find the room to cross in the 96th minute for everyone else waiting summed it up. Too often the No.22 moves away from the sort of areas where striker’s feast and it is an aspect of his game he needs to study as he gets set to lead the line for the coming months.
"But while 0-0 draw is hardly terminal for Champions League ambitions, perhaps the most worrying aspect of all is the idea that Liverpool are way past their worst period of the campaign and this is actually just their level for now. It is a sobering thought for those beginning dry January at least."