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Only a couple of weeks ago, the Merseyside club seemed destined to claim back-to-back Premier League titles and potentially a further Champions League crown. The team's capacity to win without optimal performances felt like the hallmark of genuine champions.

However, then the momentum shifted. The Anfield side persisted with average performances and began losing points. Meanwhile, the North London club, renowned for their stubborn defense and squad depth, started closing the distance at the top.

Defining a Slump in Today's Game

Can a trio of consecutive defeats represent a crisis? As with most sporting discussions, it depends completely on your definition of the key term. Is Paul Scholes world class? How do you define "elite" even signify? Is the Birmingham club a big team? What defines "major"? Are Manchester United returned to prominence? Alright, maybe that's one we can settle.

At a team of this club's stature and previous campaign's brilliance, a minor setback seems a fair assessment. During a radio show, former forward Neil Mellor was questioned how many defeats in a row would cause panic. His answer was six. Currently, they are midway to that point.

Identifying the On-Pitch Problems

There are obvious tactical problems. Integrating new additions like Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong, who provide a different skill set to departed stalwarts Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, creates a challenge. Similarly, incorporating a gifted attacking midfielder like Florian Wirtz has reportedly unbalanced the midfield. Experts of the Bundesliga note that Wirtz is a creative talent who improves those around him, linking play effortlessly rather than forcing himself on the game.

Additionally, a host of players who excelled last season—including Mo Salah, Ibrahima Konaté, Alexis Mac Allister, and Conor Bradley—are currently underperforming. Actually, most of the team is. And they all have one significant, recent experience: the tragic death of their teammate and friend, Diogo Jota.

The Unseen Impact: Grief on the Field

It has been just over three short months since the tragic passing of their friend. Although the wider world moves on quickly, shifting focus to other matters, Liverpool's players continue training and playing day after day in the absence of their friend.

This is not possible to know how each individual and member of the backroom team is dealing from one day to the next. It requires a great deal of speculation. Maybe Salah didn't track back in a recent match simply he was tired. But perhaps his performance level is down a few percentage points due to the fact he is grieving for his pal.

Chelsea's head coach, Enzo Maresca, commented insightfully before a fixture, drawing a parallel to his personal experience of losing a teammate, Antonio Puerta, when at Sevilla. "How they are performing this season is remarkable," he said of Liverpool. "Particularly after Jota's tragedy. I lived a very similar thing when I was a player 20 years ago."

"It's not easy for the squad, it's not easy for the club, it's not easy for the coach when you come to the training ground and you see every day that place vacant. So you must be very strong. And this is the reason why for me they are doing not good, even better than good. Because they are trying to deal with a situation that is not easy."

Just as summarized succinctly on a popular supporter's show, the memory triggers are ongoing. They hear his song in the first half, they notice his unused peg in the changing room. Even during matches, a through ball might be played and the realization arises: 'Oh, Diogo would have reached that.' When the Egyptian was seen crying in front of the Kop a few games ago, it signals that everything is not all right.

The Limits of Punditry and Human Emotion

After reporting on football for twenty years, one comes to believe there is a fundamental lack of depth in most analysis. We genuinely cannot know how an individual is coping at any given moment and how that impacts their performance. Jota's passing is one of the clearest illustrations. We are aware a terrible thing happened, and we comprehend the nature of grief. But further lies an intangible layer of effect on different people at the organization. It is very possible that a few of the squad themselves do not truly grasp its effect from one moment to the next.

How the press reports on this and how supporters dissect performances is clearly far from the most important thing. On a practical basis, mentioning Jota's passing is difficult to do in a brief segment before moving on to tactical issues. Outside of this specific tragedy and outside Liverpool, it would seem bizarre to preface every critique of a footballer with an admission that we know so little about their private circumstances—be it their parental relationships, personal challenges, or relationship difficulties.

An ex- professional footballer, Nedum Onuoha, lately spoke on a broadcast 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 highs and the low points that come with it didn't really feel 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, whatever Liverpool accomplish this season—if it's something 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 result, we should not forget that a short time ago they suffered the loss of not merely a brilliant player, but, crucially, they said goodbye to a dear friend.