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Only a few weeks back, the Merseyside club appeared destined to claim back-to-back Premier League championships and possibly another Champions League trophy. Their capacity to win without peak displays seemed like the mark of genuine title-winners.

However, then the momentum turned. Liverpool persisted with average showings and began dropping points. At the same time, the North London club, known for their resolute backline and squad depth, began narrowing the distance at the top.

Understanding a Slump in Today's Game

Can a trio of consecutive losses represent a collapse? Like many sporting discussions, it hinges entirely on your interpretation of the key term. Was the United midfielder world class? How do you define "world class" even signify? Is the Birmingham club a big club? What constitutes "major"? Are Manchester United back? Well, perhaps that's a question we can answer.

For a club of this club's stature and previous campaign's excellence, a mini crisis seems a reasonable assessment. During a broadcast, former striker Neil Mellor was asked how many defeats in a row would cause panic. His reply was six. Currently, they are midway to that particular threshold.

Pinpointing the Tactical Problems

One can observe clear footballing problems. Assimilating new additions like Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong, who provide a different style to previous key players Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, presents a challenge. Likewise, incorporating a talented attacking midfielder like Florian Wirtz has reportedly unbalanced the engine room. Experts of the Bundesliga point out that Wirtz is a technical talent who elevates those around him, connecting play seamlessly rather than forcing himself on the game.

Furthermore, a number of individuals who excelled last campaign—such as Mo Salah, Ibrahima Konaté, Alexis Mac Allister, and Conor Bradley—are now underperforming. Actually, most of the team are. Yet every one of them share one profound, recent experience: the passing of their teammate and companion, Diogo Jota.

The Invisible Effect: Grief on the Pitch

It has been just more than three short months since the devastating loss of their teammate. Although the outside world moves on rapidly, shifting attention to global events, the club's squad continue training and playing each day in the absence of their mate.

It is impossible to gauge how every player 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 particular match because he lacked energy. Or perhaps his performance level is down a small percentage points because he misses his pal.

Chelsea's head coach, Enzo Maresca, commented eloquently before a fixture, drawing a parallel to his own situation of losing a teammate, Antonio Puerta, while at Sevilla. "The way they are performing this campaign is remarkable," he said of Liverpool. "Particularly after Jota's tragedy. I went through exactly the same thing when I was a player two decades past."

"It is difficult for the squad, it's not easy for the club, it's not easy for the coach when you arrive at the training complex and you see every day that spot vacant. So you must be incredibly resilient. And this is the explanation why for me they are performing not good, even better than good. Because they are attempting to handle a situation that is not easy."

Just as summarized well on a popular supporter's show, the memory triggers are constant. The players hear his chant in the first half, they notice his empty peg in the dressing room. In the middle of matches, a through ball might be made and the realization arises: 'Ah, Diogo would have been there.' If Salah showed emotion in front of the Kop a matches ago, it indicates that everything is far from normal.

The Limits of Punditry and Human Emotion

Having reporting on football for two decades, one realizes there is a fundamental superficiality in most punditry. We simply do not know how an individual is coping at any specific time and how that impacts their performance. Jota's death is one of the clearest illustrations. We are aware a terrible event occurred, and we comprehend the concept of grief. But further lies an intangible level of effect on different people at the club. It is very possible that a few of the players themselves do not fully understand its effect from one moment to the next.

The way the press covers this and how supporters analyze displays is clearly far from the most important factor. On a functional level, mentioning Jota's death is difficult to do in a short soundbite before transitioning to on-field issues. Outside of this specific event and beyond Liverpool, it would seem bizarre to qualify every critique of a player with an admission that we know so little about their private circumstances—be it their parental situation, personal challenges, or relationship problems.

An ex- pro footballer, Nedum Onuoha, lately spoke on radio about how his mother's death halfway through his career impacted his passion for the game. "I didn't enjoy football as much," he said. "The high points and the low points that come with it didn't really feel the same any more." And that was many years into his profession; for Liverpool and Jota, it has been only three months.

The Concluding Thought

So, whatever Liverpool accomplish in the coming months—be it success or if it's nothing—whether or not we omit reference to it every time we analyze their matches, and even if it isn't the cause for their final outcome, we must remember that a few weeks ago they suffered the loss of not merely a exceptional player, but, more importantly, they lost a friend.