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Just a couple of weeks ago, Liverpool seemed destined to claim back-to-back Premier League titles and possibly a further Champions League trophy. The team's capacity to secure victories without peak performances seemed like the hallmark of true champions.

But, then the momentum turned. Liverpool persisted with mediocre performances and started dropping points. At the same time, Arsenal, known for their stubborn backline and strength in depth, began closing the distance at the top.

Defining a Crisis in Modern Football

Can a trio of straight losses constitute a collapse? Like many football debates, it hinges completely on your definition of the central word. Is Paul Scholes elite? What does "elite" actually mean? Is the Birmingham club a major team? What defines "big"? Are Manchester United back? Well, maybe that is one we might settle.

At a team of this club's size and previous campaign's excellence, a minor setback appears a fair description. On a recent broadcast, former striker Neil Mellor was questioned how many defeats in a row would trigger alarm. His reply was six. At present, they are midway to that particular point.

Pinpointing the Tactical Problems

There are obvious tactical issues. Assimilating recent additions like Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong, who offer a different style to departed key players Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, creates a challenge. Similarly, blending in a talented playmaker like Florian Wirtz has reportedly disrupted the engine room. Observers of the Bundesliga point out that Wirtz is a technical talent who improves those beside him, connecting play seamlessly rather than forcing himself upon the game.

Furthermore, a host of individuals who shone last season—including Mo Salah, Ibrahima Konaté, Alexis Mac Allister, and Conor Bradley—are currently underperforming. Actually, most of the squad is. And they all have one significant, recent event: the passing of their colleague and companion, Diogo Jota.

The Unseen Impact: Loss on the Field

We are now just over three months since the devastating passing of their friend. Although the outside world moves on rapidly, diverting focus to global events, the club's players carry on going to work day after day in the absence of their friend.

This is not possible to gauge how each individual and staff member is coping on any given day. It requires a significant amount of speculation. Perhaps Salah failed to defend in a particular match because he was tired. Or maybe his form is down a few percentage points due to the fact he misses his friend.

Chelsea's head coach, Enzo Maresca, commented insightfully before a fixture, making a parallel to his personal experience of the loss of a teammate, Antonio Puerta, when at Sevilla. "The way they are performing this season 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's not easy for the players, it's not easy for the club, it's not easy for the coach when you come to the training complex and you see every day that place empty. So you have to be incredibly resilient. And this is the reason why for me they are performing not good, even better than good. Because they are trying to deal with a problem that is not easy."

Just as explained succinctly on a well-known fan podcast, the memory triggers are ongoing. They hear his chant in the 20th minute, they see his empty locker in the changing room. In the middle of matches, a pass might be made and the realization arises: 'Ah, Diogo would have been there.' When the Egyptian was seen crying in front of the Kop a matches ago, it signals that all is not all right.

The Limits of Punditry and Human Emotion

Having covering football for twenty years, one realizes there is a fundamental superficiality in most analysis. We simply do not know how an individual is feeling at any given moment and how that impacts their play. Jota's death is one of the most stark examples. We are aware a terrible event happened, and we understand the nature of grief. But further lies an intangible level of effect on various individuals at the club. It is highly likely that a few of the squad personally do not fully understand its effect from one moment to the next.

The way the media reports on this and how fans analyze performances is clearly far from the primary thing. On a functional level, mentioning Jota's passing is challenging to accomplish in a brief soundbite before moving on to tactical issues. Outside of this specific tragedy and beyond Liverpool, it would seem strange to qualify each critique of a player with an admission that we know so little about their personal lives—be it their family relationships, personal challenges, or relationship problems.

A former professional footballer, the defender, recently talked on radio about how his mother's death halfway through his playing days impacted his love for the game. "I lost some joy in football as much," he said. "Some of the high points and the lows 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 achieve in the coming months—be it success or failure—even if we don't mention it whenever we analyze their fixtures, even if it is not the sole reason for their final outcome, we must remember that a short time ago they suffered the loss of not just a brilliant footballer, but, more importantly, they lost a friend.