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Only a couple of weeks back, Liverpool appeared set to claim back-to-back Premier League titles and potentially another Champions League crown. Their capacity to win without optimal displays seemed like the mark of genuine champions.

However, then the tide turned. The Anfield side persisted with average performances and started dropping points. Meanwhile, Arsenal, known for their stubborn backline and strength in depth, started narrowing the gap at the top.

Understanding a Slump in Modern Football

Does three consecutive defeats represent a crisis? Like many football debates, it depends entirely on your interpretation of the central word. Was the United midfielder world class? How do you define "elite" actually mean? Are Aston Villa a major team? What defines "big"? Is the Old Trafford outfit back? Alright, perhaps that is one we might answer.

At a team of this club's stature and previous campaign's excellence, a minor setback seems a fair assessment. On a recent broadcast, ex- striker Neil Mellor was questioned how many losses in a row would trigger alarm. His reply was six. Currently, they are halfway to that particular threshold.

Pinpointing the On-Pitch Issues

There are obvious tactical problems. Assimilating new signings like Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong, who provide a different skill set to departed key players Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, creates a challenge. Likewise, blending in a gifted attacking midfielder like Florian Wirtz has reportedly disrupted the midfield. Observers of the Bundesliga note that Wirtz is a creative player who elevates those around him, linking play seamlessly rather than forcing himself upon the game.

Additionally, a number of players who shone last season—such as Mo Salah, Ibrahima Konaté, Alexis Mac Allister, and Conor Bradley—are now below their best. In fact, the majority of the team is. Yet every one of them share one significant, fresh event: the passing of their colleague and companion, Diogo Jota.

The Invisible Effect: Loss on the Field

We are now just more than three short months since the devastating passing of their friend. While the outside world progresses rapidly, diverting attention to global events, the club's squad continue training and playing day after day without their friend.

It is impossible to know how each individual and member of the backroom team is dealing from one day to the next. It requires a significant amount of projection. Maybe Salah didn't track back in a particular match because he lacked energy. But maybe his performance level is down a small per cent due to the fact he is grieving for his friend.

The London club's head coach, Enzo Maresca, commented eloquently before a recent, drawing a comparison to his personal experience 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 loss. I lived exactly the same experience when I was a player 20 years ago."

"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 complex and you see every day that spot vacant. So you must be incredibly resilient. And this is the reason why for me they are doing not well, even better than good. Because they are trying to deal with a situation that is not easy."

Just as summarized succinctly on a well-known supporter's show, the reminders are constant. They hear his chant in the 20th minute, they see his unused locker in the changing room. In the middle of games, a pass might be played and the thought arises: 'Ah, Diogo would have reached that.' When the Egyptian showed emotion in front of the Kop a few games ago, it indicates that all is far from normal.

The Boundaries of Punditry and Human Emotion

After covering football for twenty years, one comes to believe there is a fundamental superficiality in the majority of analysis. We genuinely cannot know how an individual is coping at any given time and how that affects their performance. Jota's passing is one of the clearest illustrations. We are aware a tragic thing happened, and we understand the concept of sorrow. But further lies an intangible layer of effect on various individuals at the club. It is very possible that a few of the players themselves don't fully understand its influence from one moment to the next.

How the press covers this and how supporters analyze displays is obviously far from the most important factor. On a functional basis, mentioning Jota's death is difficult to accomplish in a short segment before transitioning to on-field concerns. Beyond this specific tragedy and beyond Liverpool, it would seem strange to qualify each criticism of a player with an acknowledgment that we know so little about their personal lives—be it their family relationships, health struggles, or relationship problems.

An ex- professional footballer, the defender, recently spoke on a broadcast about how his mother's passing midway through his playing days affected his love for the game. "I didn't enjoy football as much," he said. "Some of the highs and the low points that come with it no longer felt the same any more." And that was half a career; for Liverpool and Jota, it has been just three months.

The Concluding Point

Therefore, regardless of what Liverpool accomplish in the coming months—if it's something or failure—even if we omit reference to it every time we discuss their fixtures, and even if it isn't the cause for their eventual outcome, we must remember that a short time ago they suffered the loss of not just a brilliant footballer, but, more importantly, they said goodbye to a friend.