🔗 Share this article

Only a couple of weeks ago, Liverpool seemed destined to secure back-to-back Premier League championships and potentially a further Champions League crown. The team's capacity to secure victories despite not peak displays felt like the hallmark of genuine champions.

But, then the tide turned. Liverpool continued with mediocre performances and began losing matches. Meanwhile, Arsenal, known for their stubborn defense and squad depth, began narrowing the gap at the top.

Defining a Slump in Today's Game

Does three consecutive defeats represent a crisis? Like most football debates, it depends completely on your definition of the key term. Is Paul Scholes world class? What does "world class" actually signify? Is the Birmingham club a major club? What constitutes "major"? Is the Old Trafford outfit returned to prominence? Alright, perhaps that's one we might settle.

At a team of Liverpool's stature and last season's brilliance, a minor crisis appears a reasonable description. During a broadcast, former striker Neil Mellor was asked how many losses in a row would cause panic. His reply was six. Currently, they are midway to that particular threshold.

Pinpointing the On-Pitch Issues

One can observe clear footballing problems. Assimilating new additions like Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong, who offer a distinct style to previous key players Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, creates a difficulty. Likewise, blending in a gifted attacking midfielder like Florian Wirtz has reportedly unbalanced the engine room. Experts of the Bundesliga point out that Wirtz is a technical player who elevates those beside him, connecting play effortlessly rather than imposing himself upon the game.

Furthermore, a number of individuals who excelled last campaign—including Mo Salah, Ibrahima Konaté, Alexis Mac Allister, and Conor Bradley—are currently underperforming. In fact, the majority of the team are. Yet every one of them have one significant, fresh event: the passing of their colleague and companion, Diogo Jota.

The Invisible Impact: Grief on the Pitch

It has been just more than three short months since the tragic passing of their friend. Although the outside world progresses quickly, diverting focus to global matters, Liverpool's squad carry on training and playing day after day without their mate.

This is not possible to gauge how each player and member of the backroom team is coping from one day to the next. There is a great deal of speculation. Perhaps Salah didn't track back in a recent match simply he was tired. Or perhaps his performance level is down a few percentage points because he misses his friend.

The London club's head coach, Enzo Maresca, spoke eloquently before a recent, drawing a parallel to his own experience of losing a teammate, Antonio Puerta, while at Sevilla. "How they are doing this campaign is remarkable," he said of Liverpool. "Particularly 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 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 very strong. And this is the explanation why for me they are doing not good, but exceptionally well. Because they are trying to handle a situation that is not easy."

As explained succinctly on a well-known supporter's show, the memory triggers are ongoing. They hear his chant in the first half, they see his unused peg in the dressing room. In the middle of matches, a through ball might be played and the realization arises: 'Ah, Jota would have been there.' When the Egyptian showed emotion in front of the Kop a matches ago, it indicates that everything is not all right.

The Limits of Punditry and Human Emotion

After reporting on football for two decades, one realizes there is a fundamental superficiality in the majority of punditry. We simply do not know how an individual is feeling at any specific moment and how that impacts their performance. Jota's death is one of the clearest illustrations. We know a tragic thing happened, and we comprehend the concept of grief. But further lies an immeasurable layer of impact on different individuals at the organization. It is very possible that a few of the players personally do not truly understand its influence from one moment to the next.

The way the press reports on this and how supporters dissect displays is clearly not the primary thing. On a practical basis, mentioning Jota's death is difficult to do in a brief soundbite before moving on to tactical issues. Outside of this specific event and beyond Liverpool, it would seem strange to qualify each critique of a player with an acknowledgment that we know so little about their private circumstances—be it their parental situation, health challenges, or relationship difficulties.

An ex- pro footballer, Nedum Onuoha, lately talked on radio about how his mother's passing midway through his career impacted his love for the game. "I lost some joy in football as much," he stated. "The high points and the lows that come with it no longer felt the same any more." And that was many years into his profession; for Liverpool and Jota, it has been only three months.

The Final Point

So, whatever Liverpool accomplish this season—if it's something or if it's nothing—even if we don't mention it every time we analyze their fixtures, and even if it isn't the reason for their final result, we must remember that a few weeks ago they suffered the loss of not merely a exceptional footballer, but, more importantly, they lost a dear friend.