🔗 Share this article

Just a few weeks ago, Liverpool appeared destined to claim back-to-back Premier League titles and possibly another Champions League crown. The team's ability to secure victories despite not optimal displays felt like the mark of genuine title-winners.

However, then the tide turned. Liverpool continued with average performances and started dropping matches. Meanwhile, Arsenal, known for their resolute defense and squad depth, began closing the distance at the summit.

Defining a Slump in Modern Football

Can a trio of straight defeats represent a collapse? As with many football debates, it depends entirely on your interpretation of the key word. Was the United midfielder world class? How do you define "elite" even signify? Is the Birmingham club a major club? What defines "big"? Are Manchester United back? Alright, maybe that is a question we might answer.

For a club of this club's stature and last season's excellence, a mini crisis seems a fair assessment. During a radio show, former striker Neil Mellor was questioned how many defeats in a row would cause alarm. His answer was six. At present, they are midway to that particular threshold.

Identifying the Tactical Problems

There are clear footballing problems. Integrating recent additions like Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong, who provide a distinct skill set to departed key players Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, presents a difficulty. Likewise, blending in a gifted attacking midfielder like Florian Wirtz has reportedly disrupted the engine room. Observers of the Bundesliga note that Wirtz is a creative talent who improves those around him, linking play effortlessly rather than imposing himself upon the game.

Additionally, a number of players who excelled last season—such as Mo Salah, Ibrahima Konaté, Alexis Mac Allister, and Conor Bradley—are now underperforming. Actually, most of the squad are. And every one of them share one profound, fresh event: the tragic death of their colleague and friend, Diogo Jota.

The Invisible Effect: Loss on the Field

It has been just more than three months since the tragic loss of their friend. While the outside world moves on quickly, shifting focus to global events, the club's squad carry on going to work each day without their friend.

This is impossible to gauge how each player and staff member is coping from one day to the next. There is a great deal of projection. Perhaps Salah failed to defend in a recent match simply he lacked energy. But maybe his form is down a small percentage points because he is grieving for his pal.

Chelsea's head coach, Enzo Maresca, spoke insightfully before a fixture, making a parallel to his own situation of losing a teammate, Antonio Puerta, while at Sevilla. "The way they are performing this campaign is remarkable," he said of Liverpool. "Especially after the tragedy. I lived a very similar thing when I was a player 20 years ago."

"It is difficult for the players, it's not easy for the club, it's not easy for the manager when you come to the training ground and you see every day that spot empty. So you have to be incredibly resilient. And this is the reason why for me they are doing not well, but exceptionally well. Because they are attempting to deal with a problem that is not easy."

Just as explained well on a popular supporter's show, the reminders are constant. They hear his song in the first half, they notice his empty peg in the dressing room. Even during matches, a pass might be made and the thought arises: 'Oh, Jota would have been there.' When the Egyptian was seen crying in front of the Kop a few games ago, it indicates that everything is not normal.

The Boundaries of Football Analysis and Personal Grief

Having covering football for two decades, one comes to believe there is a fundamental lack of depth in the majority of punditry. We simply cannot know how an individual is feeling at any given moment and how that affects their play. Jota's passing is one of the most stark illustrations. We know a terrible thing occurred, and we comprehend the concept of sorrow. But further lies an intangible level of effect on different individuals at the organization. It is very possible that a few of the squad personally don't truly grasp its effect from one moment to the next.

The way the press covers this and how supporters dissect displays is clearly far from the primary thing. On a practical basis, bringing up Jota's passing is difficult to accomplish in a short soundbite before moving on to tactical concerns. Beyond this particular event and outside Liverpool, it would seem bizarre to qualify each criticism of a player with an admission that we know so little about their personal lives—be it their family situation, personal struggles, or marital problems.

An ex- pro player, the defender, lately spoke on a broadcast about how his mother's passing halfway through his career affected his passion for the game. "I lost some joy in football as much," he said. "Some of the high points and the lows that accompany it no longer felt the same any more." And that was half a career; for Liverpool and Jota, it has been only three months.

The Final Point

So, regardless of what Liverpool achieve in the coming months—be it success or if it's nothing—whether or not we omit reference to it every time we analyze their fixtures, even if it is not the sole cause for their eventual outcome, we must remember that a short time ago they suffered the loss of not just a brilliant player, but, more importantly, they said goodbye to a friend.