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Only a couple of weeks back, Liverpool appeared set to claim back-to-back Premier League championships and possibly a further Champions League trophy. The team's ability to secure victories without optimal performances felt like the mark of true champions.

However, then the tide turned. The Anfield side persisted with mediocre performances and began losing points. Meanwhile, the North London club, renowned for their stubborn backline and strength in depth, began closing the gap at the summit.

Understanding a Crisis in Modern Football

Can a trio of consecutive losses constitute a crisis? As with many football debates, it hinges completely on your definition of the central word. Is Paul Scholes world class? How do you define "world class" actually mean? Are Aston Villa a big team? What defines "big"? Is the Old Trafford outfit returned to prominence? Alright, maybe that's one we can answer.

For a club of this club's size and last season's excellence, a minor crisis seems a reasonable assessment. During a radio show, former striker Neil Mellor was questioned how many losses in a row would cause panic. His reply was six. Currently, they are midway to that particular threshold.

Identifying the Tactical Problems

One can observe clear tactical issues. Integrating recent additions like Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong, who offer a distinct style to previous key players Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, creates a challenge. Likewise, incorporating a gifted playmaker like Florian Wirtz has reportedly unbalanced the engine room. Experts of the Bundesliga point out that Wirtz is a creative talent who elevates those around him, connecting play effortlessly rather than forcing himself upon the game.

Additionally, a number of individuals who shone last season—including Mo Salah, Ibrahima Konaté, Alexis Mac Allister, and Conor Bradley—are currently underperforming. In fact, the majority of the squad is. And they all have one significant, fresh event: the passing of their colleague and friend, Diogo Jota.

The Unseen Effect: Grief on the Pitch

We are now just more than three short months since the tragic loss of their friend. While the outside world progresses quickly, shifting attention to other matters, the club's squad carry on going to work day after day without their mate.

This is not possible to gauge how every player and member of the backroom team is dealing on any given day. It requires a great deal of projection. Perhaps Salah didn't track back in a particular match simply he was tired. Or perhaps his form is down a few percentage points due to the fact he misses his friend.

The London club's head coach, Enzo Maresca, spoke eloquently before a fixture, making a parallel to his own experience of the loss of a fellow player, Antonio Puerta, while at Sevilla. "How they are doing this season is remarkable," he said of Liverpool. "Particularly after Jota's loss. I went through exactly the same thing when I was a player two decades past."

"It's not easy for the players, it's not easy for the organization, it's not easy for the coach when you arrive at the training ground and you find every day that spot vacant. So you must be incredibly resilient. And this is the explanation why for me they are doing not well, but exceptionally well. Because they are trying to handle a problem that is not easy."

As summarized succinctly on a well-known fan podcast, the memory triggers are constant. The players are reminded by his song in the first half, they see his unused peg in the dressing room. In the middle of matches, a pass might be played and the realization arises: 'Ah, Diogo would have reached that.' If Salah showed emotion in front of the Kop a few games ago, it indicates that everything is not normal.

The Boundaries of Punditry and Human Emotion

Having covering football for twenty years, one realizes there is a inherent superficiality in most analysis. We genuinely cannot know how an player is feeling at any specific moment and how that impacts their play. Jota's death is one of the most stark illustrations. We know a terrible event happened, and we comprehend the nature of grief. But further lies an immeasurable level of effect on various individuals at the club. It is highly likely that a few of the players personally don't truly grasp its influence from one day to the next.

The way the media reports on this and how supporters dissect displays is obviously far from the most important thing. On a functional basis, bringing up Jota's death is difficult to accomplish in a short soundbite before moving on to tactical concerns. Beyond this particular event and outside Liverpool, it would seem strange to qualify every criticism of a player with an admission that we are largely ignorant about their private circumstances—be it their family situation, personal struggles, or relationship problems.

An ex- pro footballer, the defender, recently spoke on radio about how his mother's death midway through his career impacted his passion for the game. "I didn't enjoy football as much," he said. "Some of the highs and the low points that come with it didn't really feel the same after that." And that was many years into his profession; for Liverpool and Jota, it has been just three short months.

The Final Point

Therefore, regardless of what Liverpool achieve in the coming months—if it's something or if it's nothing—even if we omit reference to it whenever we analyze their fixtures, even if it is not the sole cause for their eventual outcome, we should not forget that a few weeks ago they lost not just a exceptional footballer, but, crucially, they lost a friend.