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Only a couple of weeks ago, the Merseyside club seemed set to secure back-to-back Premier League titles and possibly another Champions League trophy. Their ability to secure victories despite not optimal performances felt like the hallmark of genuine champions.

But, then the tide turned. The Anfield side continued with mediocre showings and began dropping matches. Meanwhile, Arsenal, renowned for their resolute defense and squad depth, started closing the gap at the summit.

Understanding a Crisis in Modern Football

Can a trio of consecutive losses represent a crisis? Like most football debates, it depends completely on your interpretation of the key word. Is Paul Scholes world class? How do you define "world class" actually mean? Are Aston Villa a major team? What defines "big"? Is the Old Trafford outfit returned to prominence? Well, maybe that is one we might answer.

At a team of this club's size and previous campaign's excellence, a mini crisis seems a reasonable assessment. During a radio show, ex- striker Neil Mellor was asked how many losses in a row would cause panic. His answer was six. At present, they are halfway to that particular point.

Pinpointing the Tactical Problems

One can observe clear footballing issues. Integrating new additions like Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong, who offer a distinct skill set to previous stalwarts Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, presents a difficulty. Similarly, incorporating a talented attacking midfielder like Florian Wirtz has reportedly unbalanced the midfield. Experts of the Bundesliga note that Wirtz is a creative player who elevates those beside him, linking play seamlessly rather than imposing himself on the game.

Additionally, a number of individuals who shone last campaign—such as Mo Salah, Ibrahima Konaté, Alexis Mac Allister, and Conor Bradley—are now below their best. In fact, most of the squad are. Yet they all share one profound, recent event: the tragic death of their teammate and companion, Diogo Jota.

The Invisible Impact: Loss on the Field

It has been just over three months since the devastating loss of their teammate. While the wider world progresses quickly, diverting attention to global events, the club's squad carry on going to work each day in the absence of their friend.

This is not possible to gauge how every player and staff member is coping from one day to the next. It requires a significant amount of projection. Maybe Salah didn't track back in a recent match because he was tired. But perhaps his form is down a small percentage points because he misses his friend.

The London club's head coach, Enzo Maresca, commented insightfully before a recent, making a parallel to his own experience of the loss of a teammate, Antonio Puerta, while at Sevilla. "The way they are performing this campaign is fantastic," he said of Liverpool. "Particularly after Jota's loss. I went through a very similar thing when I was a player two decades past."

"It is difficult for the squad, it's not easy for the organization, it's not easy for the manager when you come to the training ground and you see every day that spot empty. So you must be very strong. And this is the reason why for me they are doing not good, even better than good. Because they are trying to handle a problem that is not easy."

Just as summarized well on a popular fan podcast, the reminders are ongoing. The players hear his chant in the first half, they see his empty locker in the changing room. In the middle of games, a through ball might be played and the thought arises: 'Ah, Jota would have been there.' When the Egyptian was seen crying in front of the Kop a matches ago, it indicates that all is far from all right.

The Boundaries of Football Analysis and Human Emotion

Having reporting on football for twenty years, one comes to believe there is a inherent lack of depth in most analysis. We genuinely cannot know how an individual is feeling at any given moment and how that impacts their performance. Jota's death is one of the clearest illustrations. We are aware a terrible event happened, and we understand the nature of sorrow. But further lies an intangible layer of effect on different people at the club. It is highly likely that some of the players personally do not fully grasp its influence from one day to the next.

How the media reports on this and how fans analyze performances is clearly not the most important factor. On a practical basis, mentioning Jota's death is difficult to accomplish in a short segment before moving on to tactical issues. Outside of this specific event and outside Liverpool, it would seem bizarre to qualify each critique of a player with an acknowledgment that we know so little about their private circumstances—be it their family situation, personal struggles, or marital problems.

A former professional footballer, Nedum Onuoha, recently talked on a broadcast about how his mother's passing midway through his playing days affected his love for the game. "I lost some joy in football as much," he stated. "Some of the high points and the lows that accompany 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

So, whatever Liverpool accomplish this season—be it success or failure—whether or not we don't mention it every time we analyze their matches, even if it is not the sole reason for their final result, we should not forget that a few weeks ago they lost not merely a brilliant footballer, but, more importantly, they lost a friend.