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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. The team's capacity to secure victories without optimal performances seemed like the hallmark of genuine title-winners.

However, then the tide turned. The Anfield side persisted with mediocre performances and started dropping points. Meanwhile, Arsenal, renowned for their stubborn defense and strength in depth, started closing the gap at the summit.

Understanding a Slump in Today's Game

Can a trio of straight defeats constitute a collapse? Like most sporting discussions, it depends entirely on your interpretation of the key term. Was the United midfielder world class? What does "world class" even signify? Is the Birmingham club a major team? What defines "big"? Is the Old Trafford outfit back? Alright, maybe that's one we might settle.

At a team of Liverpool's size and previous campaign's brilliance, a minor crisis seems a fair assessment. During a broadcast, ex- striker Neil Mellor was asked how many defeats in a row would cause panic. His answer was six. At present, they are halfway to that threshold.

Pinpointing the Tactical Issues

There are clear footballing issues. Integrating recent signings like Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong, who provide a distinct skill set to departed stalwarts Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, presents a challenge. Likewise, incorporating a gifted playmaker like Florian Wirtz has reportedly unbalanced the engine room. Observers of the Bundesliga point out that Wirtz is a creative player who improves those around him, linking play seamlessly rather than forcing himself on the game.

Furthermore, a host of players who shone last campaign—including Mo Salah, Ibrahima Konaté, Alexis Mac Allister, and Conor Bradley—are now below their best. In fact, the majority of the team are. Yet they all have one profound, fresh event: the passing of their teammate and companion, Diogo Jota.

The Invisible Impact: Grief on the Field

We are now just more than three months since the tragic loss of their friend. While the outside world moves on rapidly, shifting focus to global matters, Liverpool's players continue training and playing each day without their mate.

This is not possible to gauge how every individual and member of the backroom team is coping from one day to the next. It requires a significant amount of speculation. Perhaps Salah failed to defend in a recent match because he was tired. Or maybe his performance level is down a few percentage points due to the fact he is grieving for his friend.

Chelsea's head coach, Enzo Maresca, spoke eloquently before a recent, making a parallel to his own experience of losing a fellow player, Antonio Puerta, while at Sevilla. "How they are performing this season is remarkable," he said of Liverpool. "Particularly after Jota's loss. I went through 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 complex and you find every day that spot vacant. So you have to be incredibly resilient. And this is the explanation why for me they are doing not good, but exceptionally well. Because they are trying to handle a problem that is not easy."

Just as explained succinctly on a popular fan podcast, the memory triggers are constant. The players are reminded by his chant in the first half, they see his empty locker in the changing room. In the middle of matches, a pass might be played and the thought arises: 'Ah, Jota would have reached that.' When the Egyptian showed emotion in front of the Kop a few games ago, it indicates that everything is far from normal.

The Boundaries of Football Analysis and Personal Grief

After covering football for two decades, one realizes there is a fundamental lack of depth in most punditry. We genuinely cannot know how an individual is feeling 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 occurred, and we understand the concept of sorrow. Beyond that lies an intangible layer of impact on various people at the club. It is very possible that a few of the squad themselves don't fully grasp its effect from one day to the next.

The way the media reports on this and how supporters analyze performances is obviously not the most important factor. On a functional level, mentioning Jota's death is challenging to accomplish in a brief soundbite before moving on to on-field concerns. Beyond this particular event and beyond Liverpool, it would seem bizarre to qualify each criticism of a footballer with an admission that we are largely ignorant about their personal lives—be it their parental relationships, health struggles, or marital difficulties.

An ex- professional footballer, the defender, lately spoke on a broadcast about how his mother's passing halfway through his career impacted his passion for the game. "I didn't enjoy football as much," he said. "The highs 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 just three short months.

The Final Point

So, regardless of what Liverpool accomplish this season—be it success or failure—even if we omit reference to it every time we discuss their fixtures, even if it isn't the reason for their eventual result, we must remember that a short time ago they lost not just a brilliant footballer, but, more importantly, they said goodbye to a friend.