Daniel Sturridge thinks Liverpool are ‘tired’ after dull Leeds draw | OneFootball

Former Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge thinks the Reds look “tired” after they drew 1-1 with Leeds United in the Premier League.

The Reds have recovered from a period of poor form of late. They began the Premier League season with six wins on the spin, but then fell off massively and slipped into the bottom half of the table.

They did not lose at all in December, but there were some less than convincing results, such as a 3-3 draw with Leeds and 1-1 draw with Sunderland.

They had won four games on the spin before meeting Leeds again on the first day of 2026, and had just three shots on target as they once again drew with the Whites, this time in a 0-0.

Former Liverpool striker Sturridge feels the Reds were underwhelming in the draw.

He said: “They’ll be disappointed with that performance. They looked a little bit tired, they lacked that sharpness. There wasn’t much from them threatening Leeds. They controlled it quite well, but they didn’t have that creative sharpness.”

Reds boss Arne Slot felt Liverpool simply had to make the most of their possession by finding the net.

He said: “A goal, that’s the most simple answer. And to score a goal against a team that’s defending so well in and around their box, there are a few ways to unlock it.

“That is for some teams in this league, or for a lot of teams in this league, a set-piece. We were close with Virgil [van Dijk]. We got eight – unfortunately, we didn’t score. Another way of unlocking it is something we saw last week against Wolves, when Jeremie Frimpong had his moment of magic, a quick one-v-one where he brought the ball in, and I think he had a few of those moments today as well.

“If you look at the bigger picture, so you forget the one-v-ones, I said to them at half-time [that] we can bring more bodies in the box than we in moments did in the first half. When we did cross, it would have been nice if there were more bodies in their box from us, not from them but from us.

“A lot of ball possession. I think we are the team with the most ball possession this year in the league, but ball possession means not a lot if you cannot create enough chances. To create chances against a low block you need pace, individual special moments to create an overload. You don’t see a lot of 15-to-20-passes goals against low blocks.”