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Only a couple of weeks ago, the Merseyside club seemed set to secure back-to-back Premier League championships and possibly a further Champions League crown. Their ability to win without optimal displays felt like the mark of genuine champions.

But, subsequently the tide shifted. Liverpool continued with average showings and began losing matches. At the same time, Arsenal, known for their stubborn backline and squad depth, started closing the gap at the top.

Defining a Slump in Modern Football

Can three consecutive losses constitute a crisis? Like many sporting discussions, it depends entirely on your interpretation of the key word. Is Paul Scholes elite? What does "world class" actually signify? Are Aston Villa a major club? What defines "major"? Are Manchester United returned to prominence? Well, perhaps that's one we can settle.

At a team of Liverpool's stature and last season's excellence, a minor crisis seems a reasonable assessment. On a recent radio show, former forward Neil Mellor was questioned how many losses in a row would cause panic. His answer was six. At present, they are halfway to that point.

Identifying the On-Pitch Problems

One can observe obvious tactical problems. Assimilating new signings like Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong, who provide a different skill set to previous key players Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, creates a difficulty. Similarly, blending in a talented playmaker like Florian Wirtz has reportedly unbalanced the engine room. Experts of the Bundesliga note that Wirtz is a technical player who elevates those beside him, connecting play effortlessly rather than imposing himself upon the game.

Additionally, a host of individuals who shone last season—including Mo Salah, Ibrahima Konaté, Alexis Mac Allister, and Conor Bradley—are now underperforming. In fact, the majority of the squad is. Yet every one of them share one significant, fresh experience: the passing of their teammate and friend, Diogo Jota.

The Invisible Effect: Grief on the Pitch

We are now just more than three months since the tragic loss of their friend. Although the wider world progresses quickly, diverting attention to global matters, the club's squad continue going to work each day in the absence of their mate.

It is not possible to gauge how every individual and member of the backroom team is dealing from one day to the next. There is a significant amount of speculation. Maybe Salah didn't track back in a particular match because he was tired. Or perhaps his form is down a small per cent because he is grieving for his pal.

The London club's head coach, Enzo Maresca, commented eloquently before a fixture, drawing a parallel to his own situation of the loss of a teammate, Antonio Puerta, while at Sevilla. "How they are doing this campaign is fantastic," he said of Liverpool. "Particularly after Jota's tragedy. I went through a very similar thing when I was a player 20 years ago."

"It is difficult for the squad, it's not easy for the organization, it's not easy for the coach when you come to the training complex and you find every day that place vacant. So you must be incredibly resilient. And this is the explanation why for me they are performing not good, but exceptionally well. Because they are attempting to handle a problem that is not easy."

Just as explained well on a popular fan podcast, the reminders are ongoing. The players hear his song in the 20th minute, they notice his unused peg in the changing room. Even during games, a through ball might be made and the realization arises: 'Ah, Jota would have reached that.' When the Egyptian was seen crying in front of the Kop a matches ago, it indicates that everything is far from normal.

The Limits of Punditry and Human Emotion

After covering football for twenty years, one realizes there is a fundamental lack of depth in most analysis. We genuinely do not know how an player is coping at any specific moment and how that impacts their performance. Jota's passing is one of the most stark illustrations. We are aware a terrible thing occurred, and we understand the concept of sorrow. But further lies an immeasurable level of impact on different individuals at the organization. It is very possible that a few of the squad personally don't fully understand its effect from one day to the next.

How the press reports on this and how fans analyze displays is clearly far from the most important factor. On a functional basis, bringing up Jota's passing is challenging to accomplish in a brief segment before moving on to tactical issues. Beyond this specific event and beyond Liverpool, it would seem bizarre to qualify every criticism of a footballer with an admission that we know so little about their private circumstances—be it their parental situation, health struggles, or marital difficulties.

An ex- pro player, the defender, lately spoke on radio about how his mother's passing halfway through his playing days impacted his passion for the game. "I lost some joy in football as much," he stated. "Some of the highs and the lows that accompany it didn't really feel the same any more." And that was many years into his profession; for Liverpool and Jota, it has been just three months.

The Concluding Point

Therefore, whatever Liverpool accomplish this season—be it success or if it's nothing—whether or not we omit reference to it every time we analyze their fixtures, and even if it isn't the reason for their eventual result, we should not forget that a short time ago they lost not just a exceptional player, but, more importantly, they said goodbye to a friend.