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Only a few weeks back, the Merseyside club seemed destined to secure back-to-back Premier League titles and potentially a further Champions League crown. The team's ability to win despite not optimal displays felt like the hallmark of true title-winners.

However, subsequently the tide turned. The Anfield side persisted with mediocre performances and started dropping matches. At the same time, the North London club, renowned for their stubborn backline and squad depth, began narrowing the distance at the top.

Understanding a Crisis in Modern Football

Does three consecutive losses constitute a crisis? Like many football debates, it depends entirely on your definition of the central term. Is Paul Scholes elite? How do you define "world class" actually mean? Is the Birmingham club a major team? What defines "big"? Are Manchester United returned to prominence? Alright, maybe that's a question we can answer.

At a team of this club's size and last season's excellence, a minor crisis seems a fair assessment. During a radio show, ex- forward Neil Mellor was questioned how many losses in a row would cause alarm. His answer was six. Currently, they are midway to that particular point.

Identifying the On-Pitch Problems

There are clear tactical problems. Assimilating recent additions like Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong, who provide a distinct style to previous key players Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, creates a challenge. Likewise, incorporating a gifted attacking midfielder like Florian Wirtz has reportedly disrupted the engine room. Observers of the Bundesliga note that Wirtz is a creative player who elevates those around him, linking play seamlessly rather than forcing himself on the game.

Furthermore, a host of individuals who shone last season—including Mo Salah, Ibrahima Konaté, Alexis Mac Allister, and Conor Bradley—are currently below their best. Actually, the majority of the team are. Yet every one of them have one profound, recent event: the passing of their colleague and friend, Diogo Jota.

The Invisible Effect: Loss on the Field

It has been just over three short months since the devastating loss of their teammate. Although the outside world moves on quickly, shifting focus to other matters, Liverpool's players carry on going to work each day without their friend.

This is impossible to know how every individual and member of the backroom team is coping on any given day. It requires a great deal of projection. Maybe Salah failed to defend in a recent match because he was tired. But maybe his performance level is down a small per cent due to the fact he is grieving for his pal.

The London club's head coach, Enzo Maresca, spoke insightfully before a recent, drawing a parallel to his personal experience of the loss of a teammate, Antonio Puerta, while at Sevilla. "How they are doing this season is fantastic," he said of Liverpool. "Especially after the loss. I lived exactly the same experience when I was a player 20 years ago."

"It is difficult for the players, it's not easy for the organization, it's not easy for the coach when you come to the training ground and you find daily that place vacant. So you must be incredibly resilient. And this is the explanation why for me they are performing not good, even better than good. Because they are trying to handle a problem that is not easy."

Just as explained well on a well-known fan podcast, the reminders are ongoing. The players hear his song in the first half, they notice his empty peg in the changing room. In the middle of matches, a pass might be made and the thought arises: 'Ah, Jota would have been there.' When the Egyptian showed emotion in front of the Kop a few games ago, it indicates that everything is far from all right.

The Boundaries of Punditry and Personal Grief

After covering football for twenty years, one realizes there is a fundamental lack of depth in the majority of analysis. We simply cannot know how an individual is feeling at any specific time and how that affects their play. Jota's death is one of the most stark illustrations. We are aware a terrible thing happened, and we comprehend the nature of sorrow. Beyond that lies an immeasurable level of effect on different individuals at the club. It is highly likely that a few of the players themselves don't truly grasp its influence from one moment to the next.

How the press reports on this and how fans analyze performances is obviously far from the primary factor. On a functional basis, mentioning Jota's passing is difficult to do in a short segment before moving on to on-field issues. Beyond this specific event and outside Liverpool, it would seem strange to qualify each critique of a footballer with an acknowledgment that we know so little about their personal lives—be it their family situation, personal challenges, or marital difficulties.

A former pro footballer, the defender, recently talked on a broadcast about how his mother's death halfway through his playing days affected his love for the game. "I didn't enjoy football as much," he said. "Some of the high points and the low points that come with it no longer felt the same after that." And that was many years into his profession; for Liverpool and Jota, it has been only three months.

The Final Point

So, regardless of what Liverpool accomplish this season—if it's something or if it's nothing—whether or not we don't mention it every time we analyze their fixtures, even if it is not the sole cause for their eventual result, we should not forget that a short time ago they suffered the loss of not merely a brilliant footballer, but, more importantly, they lost a friend.