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Only a few weeks ago, the Merseyside club appeared destined to secure back-to-back Premier League titles and potentially a further Champions League crown. Their capacity to win without optimal performances felt like the hallmark of genuine title-winners.

However, then the momentum shifted. Liverpool continued with mediocre performances and started dropping points. Meanwhile, the North London club, renowned for their stubborn backline and squad depth, began narrowing the gap at the summit.

Defining a Crisis in Today's Game

Does three consecutive defeats constitute a crisis? As with many sporting discussions, it hinges completely on your definition of the key word. Was the United midfielder world class? How do you define "world class" actually signify? Is the Birmingham club a big club? What constitutes "big"? Are Manchester United returned to prominence? Alright, perhaps that is a question we can answer.

At a team of Liverpool's stature and previous campaign's excellence, a mini crisis seems a fair assessment. During a broadcast, ex- forward Neil Mellor was asked how many losses in a row would cause panic. His reply was six. Currently, they are halfway to that particular threshold.

Identifying the Tactical Issues

One can observe clear tactical issues. Assimilating recent signings like Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong, who offer a different style to departed stalwarts Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, creates a difficulty. Similarly, blending in a talented playmaker like Florian Wirtz has reportedly disrupted the midfield. Observers of the Bundesliga point out that Wirtz is a creative talent who improves those around him, linking play seamlessly rather than imposing himself on the game.

Additionally, a number of individuals who excelled last season—such as Mo Salah, Ibrahima Konaté, Alexis Mac Allister, and Conor Bradley—are now underperforming. In fact, most of the team is. Yet they all share one profound, fresh event: the passing of their colleague and companion, Diogo Jota.

The Invisible Impact: Loss on the Field

We are now just more than three short months since the devastating passing of their friend. Although the wider world progresses quickly, shifting attention to other events, Liverpool's squad carry on training and playing each day without their mate.

This is not possible to know how every player and staff member is coping from one day to the next. There is a great deal of projection. Maybe Salah failed to defend in a particular match because he was tired. But perhaps his form is down a few per cent due to the fact he is grieving for his pal.

Chelsea's head coach, Enzo Maresca, spoke insightfully before a recent, drawing a parallel to his personal situation of the loss of a teammate, Antonio Puerta, when at Sevilla. "How they are doing this season is fantastic," he said of Liverpool. "Especially after Jota's loss. I went through a very similar experience when I was a player two decades past."

"It's not easy for the squad, it's not easy for the club, it's not easy for the manager when you arrive at the training complex and you find every day that spot empty. So you must be incredibly resilient. And this is the explanation why for me they are doing not well, even better than good. Because they are attempting to deal with a situation that is not easy."

As explained succinctly on a popular fan podcast, the memory triggers are constant. They are reminded by his song in the 20th minute, they notice his unused locker in the changing room. Even during matches, a through ball might be made 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 signals that all is far from normal.

The Limits of Football Analysis and Human Emotion

Having covering football for twenty years, one realizes there is a fundamental lack of depth in most punditry. We genuinely do not know how an player is feeling at any given time and how that impacts their play. Jota's passing is one of the clearest illustrations. We are aware a terrible event occurred, and we understand the nature of grief. Beyond that lies an immeasurable level of impact on different people at the club. It is highly likely that some of the players themselves don't truly grasp its influence from one day to the next.

How the press reports on this and how fans analyze displays is clearly far from the primary factor. On a functional level, mentioning Jota's passing is challenging to accomplish in a brief segment before transitioning to on-field concerns. Outside of this specific tragedy and beyond Liverpool, it would seem strange to preface every critique of a player with an acknowledgment that we know so little about their private circumstances—be it their parental relationships, personal struggles, or marital problems.

A former professional player, the defender, lately spoke on radio about how his mother's death halfway through his career impacted his passion for the game. "I lost some joy in football as much," he said. "The highs and the low points that come with it didn't really feel the same any more." And that was many years into his profession; for Liverpool and Jota, it has been only three months.

The Concluding Point

Therefore, whatever Liverpool achieve in the coming months—if it's something or failure—even if we omit reference to it whenever we analyze their matches, and even if it is not the sole cause for their final outcome, we must remember that a few weeks ago they lost not just a exceptional footballer, but, more importantly, they said goodbye to a dear friend.