Virgil van Dijk believes Liverpool were “not good enough” in Thursday’s goalless draw with Leeds United and admitted he could sense the frustration from the Anfield crowd during the game.

Arne Slot’s side were held by their visitors on Merseyside and failed to trouble goalkeeper Lucas Perri, who was forced into just one save in the second half.

While Liverpool are now unbeaten in eight games in all competitions, the mood at Anfield was edgy as the hosts played with a worrying lack of tempo and dropped yet more Premier League points.

“If I think about the game right now, we were not good enough in the last part of our game and didn’t create enough chances to win the game,” Van Dijk said.

“So yeah, that’s frustrating. But we can speak, we can be frustrated, we can do all of this stuff, but in two days we travel to London and we have a tough game on Sunday again [against Fulham].

“So we have to recover and analyse within the camp and then be ready for a tough game over there.”

Liverpool have faced criticism in recent weeks for their more conservative style of play, with Slot having tweaked his system to make the team more robust following a rotten run in November in which they conceded 10 goals in just three games.

The change has not proved universally popular, particularly at Anfield where supporters demand a more attacking brand of football.

“I sensed that [fan frustration] as well,” Van Dijk said. “It’s very easy to say [we should move the ball quicker] when you play against a team that will play with 5-4-1 or 5-3-2.

“Sometimes you have to drag them to one side and then obviously speed up. But like I said, the last part of our game tonight wasn’t good enough. I think against Wolves in the first half we showed very much how good we can be, but today it wasn’t meant to be.

“Obviously at times when teams are sitting in, you have to be patient. And I know it’s not the nicest thing to see. We can also sit back and try to play on the counter constantly, but that’s obviously not who we are either.

“I sensed the frustration as well, but also I think that frustration comes from the fact that we dropped points and that’s obviously something that we didn’t want.

“This is definitely not an attack on the fans. The fans can feel how they feel, but we as players want to win games as well. We’re not going out there and try to pass the ball from left to right and just keep the ball.

“We want to do everything in our power to win the game as well. I’ve been very fortunate to experience so many nights, so many afternoons or early kick-offs where the fans gave us an extra lift and obviously when you drop points against Leeds like we did that obviously is frustrating, but we need the fans in order to keep pushing us forward like we always have been.

“And I don’t have any doubts that that will be the case. We’ll see them again in London with full support.”

Thursday’s result leaves Liverpool fourth in the table, 12 points behind leaders Arsenal and six points adrift of third-placed Aston Villa.

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Reflecting on whether the draw with Leeds was a missed opportunity, Van Dijk said: “Have you seen the league, how difficult it is at the moment? It is an opportunity obviously to win every game ahead of you, and that’s what we want, that’s what we fight for. But the season is still so long.

“Obviously it’s the start of 2026. We wanted to start with a win. Unfortunately we didn’t, but there are so many twists and turns still to come. I’m not looking at the league table because there’s no point.

“And that’s never been the case, even when we are top of the league. So we just have to keep going and try to be better, try to be improving, consistent, and obviously onto the next.

“There’s a lot of games in January to be played. So momentum can shift, confidence can go up and down, but we all have to keep going and keep consistent and keep the confidence because that’s the basis in order to try and get results.”