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Only a few weeks back, Liverpool seemed set to secure back-to-back Premier League titles and potentially a further Champions League crown. Their capacity to secure victories without optimal displays felt like the mark of genuine champions.

But, then the tide turned. The Anfield side persisted with mediocre showings and started losing matches. Meanwhile, the North London club, known for their stubborn backline and strength in depth, started closing the distance at the top.

Understanding a Crisis in Modern Football

Does a trio of consecutive losses represent a crisis? As with many football debates, it depends entirely on your interpretation of the key word. Is Paul Scholes elite? How do you define "world class" even signify? Are Aston Villa a big team? What constitutes "big"? Are Manchester United returned to prominence? Well, perhaps that is one we might settle.

For a club of this club's size and last season's excellence, a minor crisis appears a fair assessment. During a radio show, ex- striker Neil Mellor was asked how many defeats in a row would trigger alarm. His answer was six. Currently, they are halfway to that particular point.

Pinpointing the Tactical Issues

There are clear footballing issues. Integrating new additions like Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong, who provide a different style to departed key players Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, presents a difficulty. Similarly, blending in a gifted attacking midfielder like Florian Wirtz has reportedly unbalanced the engine room. Observers of the Bundesliga note that Wirtz is a technical talent who improves those around him, linking play effortlessly rather than forcing himself upon the game.

Additionally, a number of individuals who excelled last campaign—such as Mo Salah, Ibrahima Konaté, Alexis Mac Allister, and Conor Bradley—are now underperforming. Actually, the majority of the squad is. Yet every one of them have one profound, recent experience: the tragic death of their colleague and friend, Diogo Jota.

The Unseen Effect: Grief on the Field

It has been just more than three short months since the tragic loss of their friend. While the outside world progresses rapidly, diverting focus to global matters, the club's players carry on going to work each day in the absence of their friend.

This is not possible to know how each individual and staff member is dealing from one day to the next. It requires a significant amount of projection. Perhaps Salah didn't track back in a recent match because he was tired. But perhaps his performance level is down a few per cent due to the fact he is grieving for his pal.

Chelsea's head coach, Enzo Maresca, spoke eloquently before a fixture, making a comparison to his personal experience of the loss of a teammate, Antonio Puerta, when at Sevilla. "The way they are performing this campaign is fantastic," he said of Liverpool. "Particularly after Jota's tragedy. I went through exactly the same thing when I was a player two decades past."

"It's not easy for the squad, it's not easy for the organization, it's not easy for the manager when you come to the training complex and you see daily 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."

As explained succinctly on a popular fan podcast, the memory triggers are ongoing. The players hear his chant in the 20th minute, they notice his unused peg in the dressing room. In the middle of games, a pass might be made and the realization arises: 'Oh, Diogo would have reached that.' When the Egyptian was seen crying in front of the Kop a few games ago, it indicates that everything is far from all right.

The Boundaries of Football Analysis and Personal Grief

After reporting on football for two decades, one comes to believe there is a fundamental superficiality in most analysis. We simply cannot know how an individual is coping at any specific moment and how that impacts their play. Jota's passing is one of the clearest illustrations. We are aware a tragic thing happened, and we comprehend the nature of grief. But further lies an intangible layer of effect on different individuals at the organization. It is very possible that some of the squad themselves don't fully understand its effect from one day to the next.

The way the media covers this and how supporters dissect performances is obviously far from the most important factor. On a practical level, bringing up Jota's death is challenging to do in a brief segment before moving on to tactical issues. Beyond this particular tragedy and beyond Liverpool, it would seem bizarre to qualify every critique of a player with an acknowledgment that we know so little about their private circumstances—be it their parental situation, health struggles, or relationship problems.

An ex- professional footballer, Nedum Onuoha, lately spoke on a broadcast about how his mother's death halfway through his playing days affected his love for the game. "I lost some joy in football as much," he stated. "The high points and the low points that accompany it no longer felt the same after that." And that was many years into his profession; for Liverpool and Jota, it has been just three months.

The Final Thought

Therefore, regardless of what Liverpool accomplish this season—if it's something or if it's nothing—even if we omit reference to it every time we analyze their fixtures, and even if it is not the sole reason for their final result, we must remember that a few weeks ago they suffered the loss of not just a exceptional footballer, but, crucially, they said goodbye to a friend.